Ritual of Doom
by Count Morningstar
Summary: While visiting the American counterpart of his old Duel Academy, Jaden is surprised to find Alexis working there as an assistant teacher. Circumstances force Jaden to figure out how he truly feels about Alexis, but before he can deal with those feelings an ancient enemy of the Supreme King rises to spread chaos. Rated M due to several steamy scenes throughout.
1. Duel Academy America

**Introduction:** Back when I first started writing fan fiction, one of the projects I wanted to do was a series of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX stories that took place after the anime. I started that project with two crossover stories between GX and _Strawberry Panic_ called _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Strawberry Crisis_ and _GX: Dark Queen of Miator_. I had intended to do much more, but things kind of ended up changing somewhere along the line. One thing that happened was that I had started doing other stories, like my Pokemon AU. And without me realizing it, my little GX project ended up pretty much dying.

I mentioned this little project to a friend of mine the other day. And after thinking about it for a bit, I decided to put a few of my other projects on hold to breath new life into this series. So I took the concept of one of my abandoned GX stories, and after changing things around a bit came up with this little tale. One thing I should mention is that this story takes place after _Strawberry Crisis_ and _Dark Queen of Miator_. It's not necessary to read those stories to know what's going on in this one. Just know that they're part of the same continuity.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 1: Duel Academy America

It was a sunny afternoon as Jaden Yuki lounged under a tree in the middle of a meadow. His orange and brown-stripped cat, Pharaoh was sound asleep on his stomach. Jaden had nothing to do but lounge around as he waited for what he was told would be a helicopter. Only five days ago after winning a small Duel Monsters tournament in a nearby town, Jaden had been invited to come to the American counterpart to the Kaiba Corp Duel Academy he had attended in the past, known simply as Duel Academy America. The institute was located near San Francisco, California. And Jaden had been invited to come to the academy as a guest.

While the wandering pro duelist had been given no explanation as to why he had been invited, Jaden was told that he would have the opportunity to face off against two of the academy's graduates. That alone was enough to get Jaden to say yes to the invitation. The man who had given him the invitation told Jaden to go to a certain spot and wait for a helicopter to come pick him up. It was at that spot where Jaden had been waiting for about three hours. And while it was a nice day out, Jaden was starting to grow a little bored.

Just when it seemed like Jaden was about to doze off, his Duel Monster companion Yubel appeared to stand over him. "How much longer do those people from that academy expect us to wait?"

"Don't know." Jaden calmly replied. "I'm still trying to figure out why I was invited. I mean I understand wanting to show the students a pro duelist in action, but I would've thought they'd have picked someone a little more famous like Aster or Chazz."

"Maybe you're just finally getting the recognition you deserve." Yubel theorized. "I mean there was that article done about you winning the Astraea Star Cup a few months ago."

"That could be." Jaden replied. "Whatever the reason is, I'd just like to get there before it gets dark."

"Well this is certainly a surprise." A familiar voice spoke.

Jaden quickly sat up under the tree, causing Pharaoh to wake up and hop off his stomach. Walking towards him with a green back slung over his back was a young man only a few years older than Jaden. He had slightly long dark-brown hair and wore the white and blue uniform worn by some of the elite students from his old academy. Jaden recognized this person in an instant as his old friend, Atticus Rhodes.

"Hi Atticus." Jaden greeted as he quickly got up and walked over. "I sure didn't expect to run into you out here."

"Well I was in the area when I was invited to come to Duel Academy America." Atticus explained. "This was the place I was told where a helicopter would come to pick me up. What brings you out here?"

"I was invited as a guest of the academy too." Jaden answered.

"Oh, so Alexis invited you too, huh?" Atticus assumed.

"Alexis?" Jaden repeated with a raised eyebrow. "I was invited to come by the academy's principle. What's Alexis have to do with this?"

"You mean you don't know?" Atticus asked with a look of surprise. "My little sister's been working as an assistant teacher at that academy for the last five months."

"This is the first I've heard of it." Jaden revealed. "But then it's been just about a years since the last time I spoke to Alexis."

"Really? I'm surprised the two of you aren't engaged already." Atticus replied.

Atticus' response almost caused Jaden to trip over. "E-engaged?"

"He has got to be kidding!" Yubel spoke as her left eye twitched a bit.

"Yeah, I mean the way I've seen you two act together I would've thought you and my sister would've already made wedding plans by now." Atticus responded. "You didn't do something to upset Alexis, did you?"

"No, I just… I guess I just haven't had the chance to talk to her in awhile." Jaden told him.

"Well, whatever." Atticus replied, letting the matter drop. "If Principle Mackenzie invited you to come, I'm sure it's because he wants to show his students one of the best pro duelists out there."

"You know him?" Jaden asked.

"He's sort of an old friend of the family." Atticus explained. "In fact I'm pretty good friends with his daughter."

Before the conversation could proceed further, a white helicopter suddenly appeared in the sky above. The sound of its approach nearly scared Pharaoh into the tree. Jaden and Atticus could see the Duel Academy America logo on the side in blue letters. The chopper touched down a few feet away and opened its side door.

"Looks like our ride's here." Atticus observed.

"Yeah, let's go." Jaden replied.

Within moments after Jaden gathered his things and grabbed Pharaoh, the two of them got into the helicopter. After the pilot apologized for the delay they were off. After several minutes Jaden and Atticus could see San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge from the window of the chopper, signaling that they were getting close. The sight of the city from above was quite spectacular. A few minutes later the white helicopter finally landed on the waiting helipad at Duel Academy America.

Waiting for Jaden and Atticus as they exited the vehicle was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She was tall and very well endowed, and had tan skin and long wavy light-blue hair that grew down to her waist. The woman also had ruby red lips and a striking pair of golden eyes that were almost like those of a cat. She had on a silver blazer with the Duel Academy America logo sewed in gold lettering on the right arm, along with a very low-cut red shirt that served to show off her abundant cleavage. The rest of her outfit consisted of a very short black skirt and a pair of red shoes with spiked heels.

"Jaden Yuki and Atticus Rhodes. It's nice to finally meet you two." The woman greeted. "I'm Electra Darkling, the assistant principle of Duel Academy America. I hope that both of you will enjoy your time here."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Electra." Jaden replied.

"Oh please, there's no need to be so formal." The bluenette told him. "Call me Electra."

Right away, Jaden seemed to sense something off about Electra. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about the woman's bewitching golden eyes that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up on end. To Jaden, it almost seemed like Electra hated him for some reason, even though she had a very pleasant smile on her face.

"I was instructed to take you to Principle Mackenzie's office, but I thought perhaps you both might like to tour the grounds first." Electra suggested.

"That sounds pretty good." Atticus agreed.

"Then if you'll both follow me." Electra requested as she walked off. Jaden and Atticus hanged back for a moment.

"Hey Atticus, do you notice anything odd about Electra?" Jaden asked.

"Well she's stacked, that much I can tell." Atticus replied. "Why do you ask?"

"…Never mind." Jaden replied after a moment. "Let's just get going."

Jaden and Atticus quickly caught up to Electra and their tour of the academy grounds began. Overall, the academy didn't seem all that different from the one Jaden and Atticus had graduated from. The uniforms were a bit different. They were primarily silver in color and resembled military uniforms. The male students wore long coats with long pants while the girls' uniforms had skirts that were cut just above the knee. Both kind of uniforms also included hats, which Jaden found a little odd. He was glad that the uniforms of his academy didn't require any sort of headwear, and Jaden was quite sure he would've kept losing his.

Besides the uniforms, there were only two other distinct differences between the two academies. Duel Academy America was not quite nearly as isolated as the one Jaden had gone to. Being located near a major city was much different from being located on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. The other major difference was that there didn't seem to be any major division between the students based on skill like there was on Duel Academy Island. After touring almost the entire academy, Electra finally brought Jaden and Atticus to the door of the principle's office on the second floor.

"If the two of you will wait out here for a moment, I'll tell Principle Mackenzie that you've arrived." Electra told Jaden and Atticus before entering the office.

With that, the two visiting duelists were left to wait out in the hallway. As they waited, Jaden glanced out the window and saw something that he didn't expect. Down by a tree outside were students, a young man and woman. The male student had short black hair with a white streak down the middle, while the girl had long dark-green hair. But the most surprising thing about these two students was that they were both naked, with bits of their uniforms scattered around them. What was also very obvious to Jaden was that they were both having sex.

The young woman was bent over and grasping the tree while her lover plowed into her from behind. Her long hair was dangling down around her face, completely obscuring it from view. At one point the young man pulled her left leg back and began jamming into her harder.

"What… what the hell?" a wide-eyed Jaden asked as his face turned a bit red.

"What is it?" Atticus asked before looking out the window himself. "Whoa! That's something I didn't expect to see on the tour. I'm all for young love, but you'd think they'd be a little more discrete."

Before Jaden could respond, Electra reemerged from the Principle's office. "Principle Mackenzie will see you now. Please come in."

Jaden and Atticus quickly turned away from the scandalous display out the window and headed into the office, trying to put the event out of their minds. Standing behind the desk inside the office was a dark-haired man with bushy eyebrows and a strip of beard on his chin. It didn't take Jaden long to figure out that this man was Principle Mackenzie.

"Ah Atticus, Jaden Yukie. Welcome." Principle Mackenzie greeted. "I'm pleased that you could both pay us a visit."

"It's nice seeing you again, Mr. Mackenzie." Atticus greeted back. "I trust my sister is doing well."

"She's performing quite well as an assistant teacher here." Principle Mackenzie assured him. "And she gets along quite well with the students. They really look up to her."

"Great to hear that Alexis is doing so well here." Jaden remarked.

"Oh yes, it should've occurred to me that you would know Ms. Alexis as well." Principle Mackenzie realized. "You and she graduated from Academy Island at the same time, didn't you?"

"That's right." Jaden confirmed. "It's actually been a little while since I've seen her."

"Well you'll have your chance soon." Principle Mackenzie assured him. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened, and walking in were two people dressed in Duel Academy America uniforms. One of them was a young man with blonde hair, and the other was a young woman with short blonde hair and a small beauty mark located near the corner of her left eye.

"You sent for us dad?" the young woman asked Principle Mackenzie.

"Ah, perfect timing you two." Principle Mackenzie told them. "Jaden Yuki, I'd like to introduce you to two of this academy's top graduates, my daughter Reggie and my adopted son David Rabb."

"Nice to meet you guys." Jaden greeted.

"Hey Mac, it's nice seeing you again." Atticus greeted to Reggie. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Nice seeing you again too, Rhodie." Reggie replied.

"So you're this Jaden Yuki that's I've heard so much about." David spoke, getting Jaden's attention. "No offence, but you don't look much like much of a hotshot duelist. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the uniform of the Slifer Red dorm that you're wearing. If I'm remembering right, Slifer Red is the lowest rank at Academy Island."

"Yeah, well I did have the chance to move to Ra Yellow, but I declined." Jaden explained. "Red's sort of my color."

"Sounds like a pretty flimsy excuse if you ask me." David argued with a cocky smirk.

"Now David, you should know better than to judge the students at that academy based on their rank alone." Electra cut in. "Besides, if you ask me red truly is the perfect color for Jaden. Though perhaps black would suit him just as well."

Jaden became a little uneasy upon hearing Electra's remark. While she was smiling at him, there was something about her eyes that seemed to indicate a great hatred towards him. Though just what the reason for that hatred was, Jaden had no idea. Suddenly there was another knock at the office door.

"Come in." Principle Mackenzie responded.

The door opened, and walking in was a tall young woman with dark-blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. She had on a silver blazer with the academy's logo on the right arm, along with a black shirt with a short blue skirt and fingerless silver gloves. Jaden recognized her right away as his old friend Alexis.

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you." Alexis spoke as she walked into the room.

Jaden was about to speak when David cut him off. "Sorry Lexi, but I was called to the office to meet our two guests."

"Guests?" Alexis repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Hi sis." Atticus greeted, getting her attention.

"Oh, Atticus!" Alexis responded. "Was today the day you were coming? I totally forgot."

"Don't sweat it." Atticus replied.

"Uh, hi Lex." Jaden greeted. "It's been awhile, huh?"

"Jaden?" a surprised Alexis responded. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I invited Jaden Yuki to spend a couple of weeks here." Principle Mackenzie reminded her. "Surly you knew."

"I told you about Jaden's visit only this morning Alexis, remember?" Electra added.

"Oh… you did?" a somewhat embarrassed Alexis asked. "Gosh, I have been so busy lately I guess I've forgotten a few things. How are you Jaden?"

"I'm fine." Jaden answered.

"So Alexis, I assume that you haven't had a chance to sit down for lunch yet." David cut in. "How 'bout I take you to our usual place for a quick bite?"

"Sounds good." Alexis agreed. "That is if you don't need David for anything, Principle Mackenzie replied."

"Not at all." Principle Mackenzie replied. "But I am holding a little dinner for our guests tonight at my mansion on the grounds. You're more than welcome to attend."

"I'll be there." Alexis told him before turning back to David. "Well, shall we?"

"Uh, mind if I tag along with you guys?" Jaden asked.

"Oh… if it's okay Jaden, I'd prefer if it was just me and David." Alexis replied. "Besides, you probably wouldn't like the place David and I are going to anyway. It's kind of fancy."

"Oh… well, that's fine I guess." A disappointed Jaden responded. "I was kind of hoping that we could catch up a little."

"It's nothing personal Jaden." David assured him. "It's just three's a crowd and all that. You and Lexi will have plenty of time to catch up later tonight."

"Yeah, okay. Well have fun you two." Jaden told them. And with that, David and Alexis left the office together.

"Hey Mac, how 'bout you and I use this time to catch up?" Atticus suggested.

"Sure." Reggie replied somewhat indifferently. With that, she led Atticus out of the office.

"If you'll excuse me, Mr. Yuki, it's about time that I made my usual rounds." Principle Mackenzie told Jaden. "Dinner at the mansion will be at 7:00. In the meantime you're more than welcome to roam the grounds."

Principle Mackenzie left the room after that, leaving Jaden alone with Electra. Electra looked at Jaden with the same pleasant smile that she had been wearing since they met. Yet her eyes continued to show some kind of hidden malice towards him.

"It's a shame that you and our Ms. Rhodes weren't able to catch up." Electra remarked.

"Alexis and David really seemed friendly with one another." Jaden observed.

"Well they have known one another since they were children." Electra pointed out. "And David has been coming to visit our Alexis quite often since she started her position here."

"He has?" a somewhat surprised Jaden asked.

"Oh yes. In fact they've grown quite close over these past few months." Electra revealed. "They do make quite the fetching couple. Why I wouldn't be surprised if we started hearing wedding bells between those two before long."

Jaden suddenly felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart by those words. He had to wonder is David and Alexis had really gotten that close. And he was actually a bit surprised that the idea of Alexis and David together bothered him so much.

"Well, I have my rounds to make as well." Electra continued. "The guest house here on the grounds has already been prepared for you and Atticus. I do hope you enjoy your stay here, Jaden."

With that, Electra left Jaden alone on the office. Jaden remained standing in the middle of the room for several moments before finally leaving to go back outside. He needed to go for a long walk to try and clear his head. As he walked, Yubel appeared to hover alongside him.

"Don't try to tell me this thing with that Alexis girl isn't bothering you, because I know it is." A somewhat irritated Yubel told him.

"I can't believe that Alexis might actually be interested in that Rabb guy." Jaden responded. "But then I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she might be seeing someone. It's not like I've really tried all that much to stay in touch with her."

"Well it's not like she's done a good job with staying in touch with you either." Yubel pointed out. "If you ask me, you deserve much better. Especially after the way she brushed you off like that."

"I've just never been able to picture Alexis being interested in a guy." Jaden admitted. "Seems like she and I have always been all about dueling. I never thought that something like this would happen."

"Look, why are you even making a big deal about this?" Yubel asked. "I mean it's not like you're actually in love with Alexis, is it?"

Yubel's question made Jaden stop in his tracks. He had to wonder if that was really the reason why Alexis' possible relationship with David was bothering him so much. Jaden had always considered Alexis to be a close friend, but suddenly had to wonder if she hadn't become something more.

Yubel gave a heavy sigh. "I can tell this is going to be a long couple of weeks."

"Hey!" a voice suddenly called from behind.

Jaden turned around and saw a male academy student with black hair that had a white streak down the middle. He had a duel disk mounted on his left arm. Jaden suddenly recognized him as the young man he and Atticus had witnessed having sex by that tree earlier. Though this time he was fully clothed.

"Oh, uh… can I help you?" Jaden asked.

"You're Jaden Yuki the pro duelist, right?" the young man asked. "I'm Trent Spicer, and I've come to challenge you to a duel."

Jaden relaxed a bit after hearing Trent's explanation for confronting him. He had to admit that a good duel would help him take his mind off of Alexis for a bit.

"Okay then." Jaden replied as a smile came to his face. "Game on!"

Both Jaden and Trent took their positions and activated their duel disks. Jaden looked at his opening hand. It contained three Elemental Heroes and two Neo-Spacians, but no cards he could use to perform a fusion. He had to admit that it wasn't his best opening hand, but it had potential.

"I'll go first!" Jaden declared as he drew his first card. "I summoned Elemental Hero Wildheart in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a muscular warrior with dark skin and red tribal markings on his body. He had a long black ponytail and wielded a large sword that was presently slung on his back.

"Next I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Trent drew his first card. "I activate a Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

Suddenly the surroundings changed to a mountainous grey wasteland with a sky thick with dark-blue clouds above. In the distance behind Trent, Jaden could see a pyramid-like structure made out of some kind of strange black stone. Carved into the top of the structure was an odd almost star-shaped symbol with a demonic eye in the center.

"I've never heard of this Field Spell before." Jaden spoke as he looked around.

"You'll become all too familiar with it soon enough." Trent assured him with a confident expression. "I now summon Sonic Bird to the field!"

Flying down from above to land on Trent's side of the battlefield was a large eagle-like bird with a white head and a body of brown feathers. It had a pair of goggles over its eyes and what looked like a grey jetpack on its back.

"When Sonic Bird is summoned to the field, I can add a Ritual Spell card to my hand." Trent continued. "And now I activate that Ritual Spell, Revival of Dokurorider! I sacrifice Sonic Bird from the field and Zombie Dragon from my hand to summon Dokurorider!"

Appearing on the field next to Sonic Bird was a dragon with mindless yellow eyes and decaying purple flesh. Soon after the dragon appeared, both it and Sonic Bird were struck from the sky by a massive bolt of yellow lightning. The lightning blast quickly ended, and appearing in the place of the two creatures was a humanoid monster riding a motorcycle with a spike front wheel and a front end styled like a demonic skull. The rider had on a blue and purple riding suit with brown boots and gloves and a brown skull-like helmet with two horns on the sides and a red arrow-shaped mark on top.

"Dokurorider! Mow down Elemental Hero Wildheart!" Trent commanded. "Skull Wheel Strike!"

Dokurorider revved up his motorcycle and went full speed towards Wildheart. Jaden's wilderness hero was crushed into the ground by the attack.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "Since one of my monsters was destroyed, I can summon and Elemental Hero from my deck. So I summon Elemental Hero Stratos!"

Materializing onto Jaden's side of the field was a warrior in blue armor with a pair of mechanical wings on his back that had propellers. The tinted visor of the hero's white helmet hid his face.

"When Startos is summoned to the field, I can add an Elemental Hero to my hand!" Jaden announced. "So I add Elemental Hero Neos!"

"Add all the heroes you want. It won't help you win this duel." Trent confidently declared. "I end my turn."

Jaden drew his next card. "I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole in Attack Mode!"

Appearing on the battlefield was a large mole-like creature with brown fur. Over its shoulders were pieces of grey armor that looked as if they formed two halves of a drill bit.

"I attack Dokurorider with Grand Mole!" Jaden announced. "And when Grand Mole attacks a monster, both it and the target return to our hands!"

The pieces of Grand Mole's shoulder armor rotated up and formed a complete drill bit that covered its head. The mole dived down and drilled a large hole into the ground. Seconds later a massive hole appeared beneath Dokurorider, causing him to fall into the ground. Soon after, both holes vanished.

"Nice try. But I'm afraid you won't be getting rid of Dokurorider so easily." Trent told him. "I activate the effect of Domain of Rituals! When a Ritual Monster is returned to my hand, I can discard one card to get its Ritual Spell back from the Graveyard!"

"Which means you can summon Dokurorider all over again." Jaden quickly realized.

"Exactly." Trent confirmed. "One of the biggest weaknesses that a Ritual Monster has is being returned to the hand. But Domain of Rituals makes up for that weakness."

"Yeah? Well I still have one monster left on the field!" Jaden reminded him. "Stratos, attack Trent directly! Hero Typhoon!"

The propellers in Stratos' wings began to spin at high speed and shot forth a pair of twisters that knocked Trent to the ground. Trent's life points fell to 2200.

"That ends my turn!" Jaden announced.

Trent got back to his feet and chuckled as he drew his next card. "You're as good as they say. But I'm afraid that this time you've met your match! I activate Revival of Dokurorider and use from my hand as tribute… Sacrifice Maiden Ronda!"

Suddenly appearing on the battlefield was a young woman with long dark-green hair and chocolate-colored eyes. She had on a long white almost Roman-style dress, and her face made her look as though she was in some sort of trance. Her hair couldn't help but remind Jaden of the young woman he saw Trent with through the window.

"Sacrifice Maiden Ronda is only a one-star monster, but she can be used as the entire tribute for a Ritual Summon!" Trent explained. "And now she will be used to bring back Dokurorider!"

A massive bolt of yellow lighting shot down from the sky and hit Ronda. Seconds later Dokurorider reappeared in Ronda's place. The undead biker briefly glowed with a white aura upon returning to the field and his eyes flashed red. Jaden quickly sense something wrong about Dokurorider's return.

"I equip Dokurorider with Horn of the Unicorn, raising his ATK from 1900 to 2600!" Trent announced. A golden horn suddenly appeared on the front of Dokurorider's motorcycle. "And now, Dokurorider attacks Stratos! Skull Wheel Strike!"

Dokurorider revved up his cycle and ran Stratos into the ground. Jaden's life points dropped down to 3200.

Suddenly Trent began to laugh madly. "And now Dokurorider, attack Jaden Yuki directly! Skull Wheel Strike!"

"What?" a surprised Jaden exclaimed.

Dokurorider's eyes flashed red again as he revved up his motorcycle again. The undead biker rammed full speed into Jaden and knocked him back a few feet. His life points had fallen to a mere 600. But what troubled Jaden more was that the attack felt real.

Yubel reappeared next to Jaden. "Okay, something is very wrong with this duel."

"You think?" Jaden quietly responded as he got back to his feet. Meanwhile, Trent continued to laugh maniacally. "What did you do?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that Ritual Monsters summoned using Sacrifice Maidens gain incredible forbidden powers." A clearly insane Trent explained. "Since I used Ronda as the sacrifice for Dokurorider, he gained the power to attack twice during the same turn."

"That Sacrifice Maiden card he used to summon Dokurorider was definitely not normal." Yubel told Jaden.

"Your days are now numbered, Supreme King!" Trent declared. "With your defeat I shall become a hero in the glorious new age to come! My story will be spoken of for centuries to come!"

"Dream on!" Jaden told him as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Fake Hero! With this card, I summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a green-eyed warrior in a white alien body suit. Parts of his suit were dark-blue and his hands were black. A red line ran over parts of the warrior's body, and in the center of his chest was a dark-blue gemstone. Three red triangles surrounded the stone on his chest with the points facing away. There were white spikes on his elbows that curved upward, and another large white spike that curved backward grew from the top of the warrior's head.

"Next I summon Grand Mole back to the field!" Jaden announced. The alien mole reappeared next to Neos. "Now contact fuse Neos with Grand Mole to summon Elemental Hero Grand Neos!"

Neos and Grand Mole leapt into the sky and quickly faded from view. A moment later, Neos landed back on the ground in a different form. His torso, lower legs, and left hand were covered in olive green armor, and he wore and olive green helmet to match. A large drill covered Neos' right hand, and parts of Neos' white body suite had turned brown.

"I activate the effect of Grand Neos, Nebula Hole!" Jaden announced. "With this effect, I return Dokurorider back to your hand!"

Neos pointed his drill forward and a large black bubble appeared around Dokurorider. In moments the sphere vanished, taking the undead biker with it.

Trent's eyes went wide with horror. "No! This is impossible! I was to be hailed as a hero!"

"I don't think so!" Jaden told him. "Neos, attack Trent directly! Nebula Shot!"

Neos thrust his drill forward and sent a blast of black energy at Trent. Trent was knocked backward and his life points dropped to zero. With the duel at its end, Neos vanished and the surroundings returned to normal. Jaden ran to Trent's side and found that Trent was knocked out. He attempted to wake the mad duelist by shaking his shoulder, but to no avail.

"He's out cold." Jaden observed.

"Probably the backlash from losing that duel." Yubel assumed. "One thing I'm pretty sure of though is that this guy was probably just a pawn."

"You mean he was brainwashed." Jaden deduced.

Yubel nodded. "What worries me is that this guy knew that you were the Supreme King. Which probably means that he was targeting you."

"He probably won't be the last one to come after me then." Jaden assumed.

"We seem to be up against a powerful enemy." Yubel replied. "Which means your love life isn't the only problem we have right now."

* * *

Principle Mackenzie and Electra had been watching Jaden's duel with Trent from behind a nearby tree. Both of them were quite amused by the display.

"It seems that Jaden Yuki is worthy of his reputation." Principle Mackenzie observed. "Though you could've chosen somewhat a bit stronger to face him."

"Young Mr. Trent served his purpose." Electra told him. "This was just a test to see how strong he was, after all. The important thing is that we've knocked Jaden Yuki off balance. He's so distracted by his thoughts of our dear Alexis Rhodes that he can't fully see straight. It's only a matter of time before that girl becomes his undoing."

"Attacking him by striking at his heart. Truly an ingenious plan." Principle Mackenzie praised.

"Soon the Supreme King will at last pay for what he's done." Electra declared. "And when he does, our glorious new age shall begin."

* * *

**Author's Note:** In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now, Ritual Monsters are going to be a major theme in this story. I came up with the original story idea one day when I was thinking about how Ritual Monsters have suffered a major decline over the course of the card game. So I really wanted to do a story where they were the major focus. Originally this story was going to take place in another dimension and include a couple of OCs I came up with. But after I had finished the original outline I decided that the story was too much like the third season of the anime, so I dropped it.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. Dinner and Old Flames

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed and/or begun following this story. I'm so pleased that this story has already gotten people interested. I wasn't sure how quickly this little tale would catch fire or if it would catch fire at all. So I'll try not to disappoint anyone.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 2: Dinner and Old Flames

Things had calmed down a bit after the duel between Jaden and Trent. Jaden had taken Trent to the academy's infirmary after defeating him. The doctors could find no cause for his coma. Evening soon fell upon the academy, and at a little before 7:00 PM Jaden and Atticus had arrived at Principle Mackenzie's mansion on the academy grounds. Jaden had shown up wearing his usual Slifer Red uniform. Atticus on the other hand had come wearing a dark-blue suit and a rather loud paisley tie.

As soon as the two of them showed up at the mansion's door, the butler led them in and guided them to the dining room. Principle Mackenzie and the other guests were already waiting at the table. Jaden began feeling underdressed upon noticing what the others were wearing. Principle Mackenzie was wearing a white suit with a black tie. Reggie had on a sleeveless lavender dress with pearl earrings, while David was wearing a grey suit with a black tie. Jaden immediately noticed Alexis, who was wearing sparkling blue dress with a gold necklace and elbow-high white gloves. Electra meanwhile had on a strapless red dress that further showed off her large bust, and her long light-blue hair had been tied back for the occasion.

Once Atticus and Jaden sat down at the table, the meal began. The conversation during the dinner ended up being very light. The whole time, Jaden couldn't help but notice how friendly David and Alexis were being with one another and it was driving him up the wall. At the same time he could feel Electra's hate-filled gaze burning a hole in the side of his skull. Several minutes passed and soon the dinner came to end.

"Uh, Principle Mackenzie?" Jaden spoke, taking advantage of the pause in the conversation. "Do you know if there's been any change with Trent?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, that young man you defeated this afternoon." Principle Mackenzie recalled. "I'm afraid there's been no change, but I wouldn't worry too much. It's probably just a simple case of exhaustion."

"Indeed. I'm sure Mr. Spicer will recover in a day or so." Electra agreed. "In any case Jaden, you have more immediate concerns at the moment. Tomorrow is a big day for you, after all."

"It is?" a confused Jaden asked.

"I was just about to tell you Jaden that I've arranged a little exhibition duel for tomorrow morning." Principle Mackenzie explained. "You will be going up against David in front of our students. I trust you'll both put on a good show."

"You know I'll do my best, put I don't think we should expect too much." David remarked. "I doubt that Jaden here will be much of a challenge."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Jaden asked with a glare.

"Just what it sounds like." David calmly answered. "You graduated from the lowest ranked dorm at your old academy and you've been participating in bush league tournaments ever since. I doubt that a small-time duelist like you will be very hard to beat."

"I wouldn't underestimate Jaden, David." Atticus interjected. "Stronger duelists like you have made the same mistake and have paid for it big time. He beat most of the top-ranked duelists of our old academy. He's even taken down Alexis a few times."

"Yeah, well that was in the past." David confidently argued. "I'm sure we've all changed a bit since our academy days. Since I graduated, I've won ten big-name tournaments. I doubt that Jaden her could hold a candle to me."

"David has become known as one of the top duelists here in the U.S." Alexis pointed out. "He could probably beat Zane or Aster the way he is now. I'm not sure if Jaden has a chance this time."

"Wow… that's cold, sis." Atticus told her.

"Hey, I'm just being honest." Alexis replied.

"Now, now. I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow who the stronger duelist is." Principle Mackenzie interrupted.

"Hey teach, as long as we're talking about holding exhibition duels, maybe I could get in on one." Atticus suggested. "Maybe Reggie and I could go up against each other. What do you say Mac? Sound like fun?"

"If you say so." Reggie indifferently replied. "If all of you don't mind, I think I'll turn in for the night. The flight here was pretty long."

"Oh come now, Reggie. Surly you can stay for a few moments longer." Electra responded. "It's been so long since we've seen each other. And I'm sure your father has missed you since you've been on the road."

"Actually if it's all the same to everyone, I think I'd like to turn in too." Jaden spoke as he rose from his chair. "I'd like to rest so that I'll be ready for my duel tomorrow."

"Perhaps we should all turn in for the night." Principle Mackenzie agreed. "I thank you all for coming. This truly was a lovely evening."

With that, Jaden and Atticus left the table and headed for the guesthouse on the grounds. It was not as large a structure as the mansion, but it was still quite spacious. The guesthouse was reserved for VIPs visiting the academy, and Jaden and Atticus had the whole place to themselves due to David and Reggie staying at the mansion. Immediately after returning to the house, Jaden went out to the balcony to gather his thoughts. Several minutes later, Atticus came out to join him wearing denim jeans and a purple Hawaiian shirt.

"Interesting night, huh?" Atticus spoke as he walked over to lean on the balcony railing.

"You could say that." Jaden replied. "I wish I had known I was supposed to dress up for that dinner."

"Don't worry about. I didn't know it was going to be that fancy either." Atticus assured him.

"Then why'd you wear that suit?" Jaden asked.

"Well… I was trying to impress Reggie." Atticus admitted. "To tell you the truth, I've kind of had a thing for her for years."

"And she doesn't feel the same way?" Jaden asked.

"We've always gotten along pretty good, but she's given me the cold shoulder a lot of times." Atticus replied. "I was hoping she'd warmed up a bit over these past few years, but it looks like she hasn't changed much."

"It could be she was just having a bad night." Jaden pointed out.

"Maybe. I'm not going to give up yet though. That's for sure." Atticus replied. "But I'm guessing you've got lady problems of your own to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Jaden asked.

"Come on, Jaden. I saw the way you were looking at my sister and David during dinner." Atticus told him. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. Alexis and David are just old friends. I'm sure there's nothing more going on between them."

"Electra said something different to me about that after you left Principle Mackenzie's office." Jaden revealed. "She said Alexis and David had gotten pretty close since she's been working here."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't put too much stock in what that woman says." Atticus replied. "I mean she's hot, but there's just something weird about her."

"I think I know what you mean." Jaden agreed.

"Look, if it's any consolation I think you'd make a much better match for my sister than David." Atticus told him. "Well, I think I'll hit the sack. Goodnight, Jaden."

"Goodnight." Jaden replied as Atticus headed into the house.

Soon after Atticus left, Yubel appeared. "I thought he would never leave."

"This trip sure isn't turning out like we wanted, huh?" Jaden asked.

"You can say that again." Yubel agreed.

"Yubel… I think I might be in love with Alexis." Jaden admitted.

Yubel gave a defeated sigh. "Of course you are. You know it. I know it. That flake Atticus knows it. There's no point in denying it any longer."

"It's just too bad that Alexis doesn't feel the same way." Jaden continued. "Maybe if I had bothered to keep in touch with her, things would be different."

"Oh please! It's not like that girl went to great lengths to keep in touch with you either." Yubel scoffed. "If she truly cared about you, you'd think she'd have tried getting in touch with you before now. Maybe told you about her position here at this academy."

"Yeah… maybe." Jaden halfheartedly replied.

"Look, we have a few other problems here besides Alexis." Yubel reminded him. "I think that woman Electra might've been behind that attack earlier this afternoon. And I don't think she's working alone. I got a weird feeling from that principle and his daughter too. And from that jerk Alexis seems to be interested in."

"I didn't notice anything." Jaden told her.

"That's because you've been distracted." Yubel pointed out. "If I'm right, your duel with David tomorrow probably won't be all that friendly."

"Yeah, well I wasn't planning on holding anything back tomorrow anyway." Jaden replied.

* * *

Principle Mackenzie sat in his chair by the fireplace with a glass of red wine in his hand. The evening's dinner had gone very well. He had seen how distracted Jaden was by David and Alexis. It was only a matter of time before that distraction proved to be Jaden's undoing. As Principle Mackenzie took another sip from his glass, Electra entered the room.

"Your plan seems to be working perfectly." Principle Mackenzie told her. "Though I'm sure that boy may suspect something after the incident from this afternoon."

"I'm sure. But I doubt he's able to make the connection to us." Electra pointed out. "He's too distracted by that girl. Right now, the Supreme King is at his most vulnerable. It will be easy for us to get rid of him."

"I'm sure David and my daughter will be quite useful to that end." Principle Mackenzie assumed. "Though we may need other pawns to get the job done."

"Not to worry. I already have others scattered throughout this academy." Electra assured him. "In fact, I was just about to go initiate another strong student here into our order."

"Then I won't keep you any longer." Principle Mackenzie replied with a smirk. "I do know that you enjoy that part of what you do."

"It's all for the glory of our master." Electra responded with a predatory smile.

* * *

It was the dead of night as academy student Mick Silver went out for his evening run. He found that a good run at night helped him clear his head and keep his focus razor sharp. Mick needed to remain sharp if he wanted to maintain his position as one of the academy's top students. Mick's usual route took him to a small-secluded pond located on the outskirts of the academy grounds. The place was known as a spot where students could meet for private duels and romantic encounters.

As soon as Mick reached the pond, he stopped and took a break to lean against a nearby tree. Only a second after he closed his eyes though, he heard a loud splashing noise that caused him to immediately open them back up. What he saw made his face turn bright red. Standing in the pond under the light of the full moon was a completely naked Electra. Her wet bronze skin glittered in the moonlight.

Mick could feel the gym shorts he was wearing becoming incredibly tight. Electra was widely known as a dazzling beauty among the students at Duel Academy America. There were even a few secret fan clubs devoted to her. And now Mick could see every detail of her dynamite figure. She truly did look amazing. Mick knew that it was wrong to be watching her in the nude, yet he couldn't take his eyes away. She was simply breathtaking.

Suddenly to Mick's horror, Electra's golden eyes locked onto him. "Oh! Good evening, Mr. Silver."

"Uh, uh, M-Ms. Darkling!" a very flustered Mick responded. "I, uh, I didn't know that you'd be out here. I mean, I… I didn't mean to see you like…"

"Oh there's no need to be embarrassed Mr. Silver." Electra assured him as she walked out of the water. "In fact I was expecting you to come."

"You… you were?" a confused Mick asked.

Electra gave Mick a predatory smile and sauntered over to him. "You do find me attractive, don't you?"

"I, well… yes?" Mick answered.

"And I've had my eye on you for some time now." Electra replied as she ran her fingers through Mick's shaggy white hair. "So there's no need to be shy."

Suddenly Electra kissed Mick very hard on the lips. Before he knew it, her tongue had entered his mouth and began doing amazing things inside it. All rational thought in Mick's mind had quickly evaporated. While he was eighteen, Electra was at least ten years older than he was. And what they were doing amounted to a major ethics violation. But he no longer gave a damn. As they continued to kiss, Electra reached down and began groping his bulging crotch.

Eventually Electra broke the kiss and pulled away. "I think you're more than ready now."

With that, she walked a few steps back and got onto her back on the ground. She proper herself up using her arms and gave Mick the most seductive look he had seen in his entire life. She was letting him take the lead, though it seem like she was the one in control. But Mick hardly cared. He quickly removed his gym clothes, freeing his hardened manhood. Mick walked over and got down on his knees. Soon he and Electra became locked in another open-mouthed kiss.

They broke apart for air after a few moments and Mick left a trail of fiery kisses down the length of Electra's neck until coming to her right breast. He began to suck on that massive breast. At the same time his right hand moved and began massaging her left breast, earning several moans of approval from Electra. He continued like this for quite some time until he could take no more. He needed to enter the gorgeous woman beneath him.

Mick got back onto his knees and spread Electra's legs apart. He then propped himself over Electra's body and thrust his hardened rod into her opening, causing Electra to moan and arch her back. He bucked his hips slowly, thinking that Electra needed to get used to the feeling. It was his first time having sex, so he wasn't sure exactly what to expect.

"Don't… don't hold back." Electra told him between moans. "Wreck me!"

Mick did what he was told and thrust into Electra as hard as he could, causing her to moan louder. The whole time her massive breasts bounced beneath him. Mick's eyes were transfixed on Electra's expression. Her mouth was open and her tongue was practically hanging out. How long they went on like this, Mick couldn't tell. Time had somehow lost all meaning. All he knew what that the feeling of his rod inside Electra was the greatest pleasure he had ever experience.

Eventually Mick could feel Electra's inner walls tightening around his manhood. He could feel himself getting close to the edge too. With one last thrust from Mick, he and Electra came to a hard climax at about the same time. His mind exploded in a storm of pleasure.

Electra quickly recovered from her orgasm and began to chuckle. "You have a very strong spirit, just as thought you would. You're the perfect person to initiate into my order."

With that, Electra raised her right hand the tip of her index finger began to glow with an unearthly white light. Electra touched the finger to Mick's forehead, and he suddenly felt a strange rush of power wash over him. Suddenly he felt as if he had found a new purpose.

"Serve me. Serve my lord Zott." Electra told him. "And soon you shall become a king in the glorious new age that is to come. Power. Women. Everything your heart desires shall be yours. Together we shall create a new world."

Mick didn't quite know what Electra was talking about, but he liked the sound of it. He liked the idea of becoming a king and having any woman he wanted. He didn't know how, but he now had the power to make the world bow before his feet.

A smile came to Mick's face. "I rule at the will of Lord Zott."

"Good." Electra replied with a grin. "Now then… care for another round?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** So, yeah… there are going to be a few more scenes like the one at the end of this chapter. There's a reason why I gave this thing an M rating. There was kind of a hint in that scene to the true evil that's manipulating things in this story. Anyway, in the next chapter comes the duel between Jaden and David, something that never happened in the GX manga. It always kind of bugged me the way Jaden seemed so afraid of David and Reggie in the manga. That's not going to be the case here though. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. Duel of Pride

**Author's Note:** I wasn't expecting to get this chapter done so soon. But the duel we're about to see came together really quick. I hope everyone enjoys it.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 3: Duel of Pride

Morning had come to the grounds of Duel Academy America. Jaden sat in his room at the guesthouse looking over his deck one last time. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was 8:20 AM. His duel with David was to begin in ten minutes time. Jaden got up from his desk and calmly walked out of the room. His mind was keenly focused on defeating David.

Upon exiting the door of the guesthouse, Jaden found a pair of female academy students waiting for him. Both of them looked to be about sixteen. One of them had very long straight dark-red hair that ended half way down her back and striking green eyes. The other girl had shoulder-length curly blonde hair and chocolate-brown eyes that were behind a pair of thick round glasses with black frames.

"Uh, can I help you two?" Jaden asked the two girls.

"Hi! You're Jaden Yuki, right?" the redhead responded. "I'm Sheila Tate, and the girl with me is my friend, Sophie Cross. Principle Mackenzie personally asked us to escort you to the stadium."

"Oh, well thanks." Jaden replied. With that, he began to follow Sheila and Sophie to the academy's main stadium.

"So Jaden, I hope you're ready to take on David Rabb." Sheila spoke as they walked. "He's one of our academy's top graduates. Both David and his foster sister Reggie were considered the Prince and Princess of this school."

"They're that strong, huh?" Jaden responded.

"So I've heard." Sheila replied. "I've actually only been at this academy for about two months, so I'm still learning all the local legends and whatnot. I transferred here from an academy up north."

"Are you a transfer student too Sophie?" Jaden asked.

"Oh, uh no. I've been a student here for almost three years now." Sophie shyly answered.

"Hey Sophie!" a male voice suddenly called from behind.

Jaden and the others stopped and turned around. Quickly walking towards them was a male academy student with dark-blue eyes and shaggy white hair. He was missing the hat that most of the other academy students normally wore and his coat was unbuttoned near the top.

Sophie's face turned bright red upon seeing the young man. "Uh, uh, Mick! What are you doing here?"

"I came looking for you, silly girl." Mick replied. "I ended up searching half the grounds for you."

"I'm sorry." Sophie told him with a look of shame.

"Principle Mackenzie asked me and Sophie to escort our visiting pro duelist to the stadium." Sheila explained to Mick.

"Oh, you're that Jaden Yuki I've heard about." Mick observed. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Mick Silver. I read about your victory in the Astraea Star Cup tournament a few months ago. You must be one hotshot duelist."

"Thanks." Jaden told him. "It's nice to know that I have a few fans out there."

"You think that you and I can have a duel sometime while you're here?" Mick requested. "I think taking on a pro duelist like you would be a good experience for me."

"I'd be happy to take you on." Jaden agreed.

"Hey Mick, we're kind of on the clock here." Sheila reminded. "So what is it that you wanted to talk to Sophie about?"

"Right. Sophie, you think you could meet up with me by the old supply shed after Jaden's duel?" Mick requested. "There's something important I'd like to discuss with you."

"Um, sure." Sophie agreed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks. Catch ya later then." Mick replied before heading off towards the stadium. Jaden and the two girls continued towards the stadium as well.

"He seemed like a pretty nice guy." Jaden observed as they continued walking.

"Mick is actually one of the top students currently enrolled at this school." Sheila revealed. "He's also got something of a reputation as a bad boy. A lot of the girls here are crazy about him. Including our dear Sophie here."

"I… I'm not…" Sophie attempted to deny, but her blush gave her away.

"Well, here we are." Sheila noticed as soon as they arrived at the stadium door. "Looks like bye for now, Jaden. Sophie and I will be watching you from the stands. Good luck in there."

"Thanks." Jaden replied. "It was nice meeting you both."

With that, Jaden and his two escorts parted ways as they went inside. Before long Jaden had made it to the stadium floor. The stands were already packed to the rafters with students. Jaden walked up on stage to find David waiting for him with his usual cocky smile. Electra was also waiting on stage to act as the referee for the duel.

Upon getting on stage, Jaden glanced down and noticed Atticus, Reggie, and Alexis all sitting in folded chairs on the stadium floor. Jaden suddenly felt himself becoming a bit nervous. There was something about knowing that Alexis was watching that seemed to unnerve him a bit.

"So you actually had the nerve to show up." David remarked to Jaden. "I was just thinking that you might chicken out."

"Trust me. I've gone up against way scarier opponents than you." Jaden told him.

"You're dreaming if you think you stand a chance against me." David told him. "But don't worry. I'll try not to humiliate you too badly."

"Funny. I was just about to say the same thing to you." Jaden responded.

"This will be an exhibition match between visiting pro duelists, Jaden Yuki and David Rabb!" Electra announced. "By the decision of the coin toss, David Rabb shall go first. Let the duel begin!"

With that, Jaden and David too their positions on the field and activated their duel disks. Jaden looked at his opening hand and saw that it had a lot of promise. But with David going first, there wasn't much he could do with it at the moment.

"Looks like the home team goes first!" David remarked as he drew his first card. "I activate a Spell card called Replacement Parts! By discarding one Machine-type monster to the Graveyard, I can add a level four machine to my hand. Next I summon Saturn Probe 7 in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on David's side of the battlefield with a spherical robot with a red electronic eye on the front. Its body was silver with a tick black band around its center. Projecting from the front of the device were two thin silver arms with pincer-like hands, and on the back of the machine was a single large rocket booster. Around the center of the robot's body was a large ring made of white energy.

"I'll set three cards on the field and end my turn." David announced.

Jaden drew his first card. "I activate the Spell card, Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Avian with Elemental Hero Wildheart in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Wild Wingman!"

Wildheart appeared on the battlefield along with a warrior with white-feathered wings wearing a green furred costume with a red mask. The two heroes jumped into a small vortex that appeared in the air about the battlefield. Moments later, a warrior resembling Wildheart with Avian's wings and a set of tail feathers flew down out of the vortex. He had talons for hands and feet, and on his chest was a red tribal marking in the shape of a bird.

"I activate Wild Wingman's effect!" Jaden announced. "By discarding one card from my hand, Wild Wingman can destroy one Spell or Trap card on my opponent's side of the field! And I'm using that effect to take out the card on the far left!"

Wild Wingman flapped his wings and sent forth a gust of wind that hit one of the large representations of David's facedown cards. The large card shattered apart into bits of light.

"Wild Wingman! Take down Saturn Probe 7!" Jaden commanded. "Razor Whirlwind!"

The winged hero flapped his wings again and sent forth a twister of razor-sharp wind at the mechanical probe. Saturn Probe 7 exploded in a flash of fire and smoke.

Suddenly David began to chuckle. "Thanks. I was hoping you'd have the guts to attack me. Because Saturn Probe 7 was destroyed in battle, I can now summon my strongest monster from the Graveyard! Say hello to The Big Saturn!"

A massive pillar of white light shot up from the ground behind David. In moments the light faded, and hovering behind David was a massive silver and black robot with a spherical torso and a small black head with a silver mask-like face. In the center of the machine's torso was a red circular opening. Instead of legs, the robot had a pair of large rocket boosters that it used to hover in the air. It's arms were a pair of black and silver capsules that hovered at its sides, detached from the rest of its body. On the robot's back was a dual engine jet back, and around its torso was a large ring of white energy.

"You've heard of The Big Saturn, right?" David asked Jaden with a cocky grin. "It's part of a set of extremely rare cards based on the planets of our solar system. Come to think if it, one of those cards happens to be an Elemental Hero. But I doubt that someone like you would have a card like that."

"I lay down a pair of face-downs and end my turn." Jaden announced. "Your move."

"This is already turning into a pretty intense duel." Alexis observed from the sidelines. "It's been awhile since I've seen Jaden look this determined."

"Yeah, well I think that he's trying to prove something to a certain member of the audience." Atticus replied.

"Whatever's going on up there, I think your little friend Jaden's done for." Reggie remarked. "Both he and David have pretty much used up their entire hands, but David has Jaden right where he wants him now."

"You're thinking David's set up that combo he used to win the last tournament, aren't you?" Alexis asked.

"If one of his face-down cards is the card I'm thinking of, yes." Reggie confirmed.

"Well if you're right, Jaden may not be able to win this one." Alexis assumed.

"Jeez sis! Whose side are you on?" Atticus asked.

"Hey, I'm just being realistic." Alexis told him.

"This is Jaden we're talking about." Atticus reminded her. "If there's a way for him to win, he'll find it."

Back on the stage, David drew his next card. "I activate Big Saturn's effect! By discarding one card and paying 1000 life points, Saturn gains 1000 extra ATK until the end of the turn!"

David's life points dropped to 3000. At the same time, the energy ring around Saturn's body vanished and its torso widened, allowing the red opening in the center of its chest to become like a cannon. The machine's rocket booster legs rotated up to become an additional set of cannons, and the engines of its jetpack rotated up to become a pair of shoulder-mounted missile launchers. Saturn's ATK rose to 3800.

"Saturn, obliterate Wild Wingman!" David ordered. "End of Cosmos!"

Saturn fired all the missiles loaded into its body and its flying arms launched themselves at Jaden's winged hero. At the same time all three of the robots cannons blasted Wild Wingman with intense beams of energy. The attack created a massive explosion that washed out the entire battlefield. When the smoke cleared, Wild Wingman had vanished and Jaden's life points had fallen to 2100.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal! Because Wild Wingman was destroyed, I can summon Elemental Hero Stratos from my deck!" Jaden announced. In a flash his metal-winged hero appeared on the battlefield. "Now I activate one of Stratos' effects! Because I summoned him to the field, I can destroy one Spell or Trap card on my opponent's side of the field! And the card I choose is the one of the far right!"

The propellers in Stratos' wings began to spin and sent a pair of twisters at the second of David's set cards. The large card shattered into bits of light upon being hit.

"Not bad. But I'm afraid you chose the wrong card to destroy." David told him. "I activate my final face-down card, a Quick-Play Spell call Berserk A.I.! Since a Machine-type monster I control destroyed a monster in battle, it gets a second attack this turn!"

"Say what?" a shocked Jaden exclaimed.

"There it is." Reggie observed. "One of David's deadliest combos."

"Saturn, blow Stratos to smithereens!" David commanded. "End of Cosmos!"

Saturn fired every single one of its weapons at Stratos, washing out the battlefield in a massive explosion of fire and smoke. When the smoke cleared, Stratos was no more and Jaden's life points had fallen to 100.

"Well, I'll give you credit for just barely managing to survive one of my ultimate attacks." David remarked. "But you're going to need a miracle in order to beat me. I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

With the end of David's turn, Saturn's body changed back to its original form. Its ATK had fallen back to 2800.

Jaden drew his next card and smiled. "You said I needed a miracle to beat you, and here it is! I activate the Spell, Miracle Fusion!"

"And I activate my face-down card, Backfire!" David announced. "This card changes the effect of your Spell into one that destroys a monster on my side of the field."

"But… the only monster you have is Big Saturn." A confused Jaden pointed out. "Why would you give one of my cards an effect that destroys your best monster?"

"Because when The Big Saturn is destroyed by an opponent's card effect, we both take damage equal to its ATK!" David revealed. "I have just enough life points to survive the blast, but you'll be wiped out in an instant!"

At that moment, Saturn exploded in a massive blast of white light and flames. The explosion knocked David's life points all the way down to 200. When the smoke cleared though, David and everyone watching the duel were shocked to find that Jaden's life points hadn't been touched at all. Hovering on his side of the battlefield was a small brown ball of fur with two large yellow and purple eyes and four green scaly legs. On the sides of the creature's body were two small white-feathered wings.

"What… what did you do?" a shocked David demanded to know.

"I activated my other face-down card, White Feather of Truth." Jaden explained. "This card let me negate the damage from Saturn's effect and summon Winged Kuriboh from my deck."

"That's… unbelievable." A stunned Reggie declared from the sidelines.

"That's Jaden." Atticus responded with a smirk.

"It's still my turn. And Winged Kuriboh's 300 ATK is more than enough to take you down!" Jaden continued. "Winged Kuriboh, attack David directly! Berserker Crush!"

Winged Kuriboh's eyes became aggressive as it took off towards David like a rocket. The force of the little fur ball's attack was strong enough to knock David onto his back. The few life points David had left fell to zero.

With a slight look of irritation, Electra performed her duty. "And the winner of this duel is… Jaden Yuki!"

After a moment, the audience cheered Jaden at the top of their lungs. David sat back up and hit the floor with his fist. Soon after, Alexis came up to the stage with Reggie and Atticus. Jaden expected Alexis to come over and congratulate him. But instead she went over to help David to his feet. Jaden suddenly felt like he had been punched in the chest. Silently he walked off the stage. Electra noticed this and chuckled before leaving the stage as well.

"You put up a pretty good fight." Alexis told David.

"Shut up!" David shot back. "I don't need you damn pity!"

"Hey! You better watch what you say, Rabb!" Atticus warned. "That's my sister you're talking to!"

David looked like he was about to punch Atticus but quickly backed down. Instead he straightened his hat and calmly walked off the stage. Reggie turned on her heel and silently left the stage as well, leaving Alexis and Atticus alone.

"Boy. David can be a real sore loser sometimes." Alexis observed.

"Forget about that jerk, David. What the heck is going on with you, Alexis?" Atticus asked. "What's with you giving Jaden the cold shoulder?"

"What're you talking about?" Alexis asked with a quirked brow.

"Don't play dumb with me." Atticus responded. "Yesterday you brushed Jaden off to have lunch with David, you completely ignored him at dinner last night, and just now instead of congratulating him for an epic win you rush over to comfort the guy he just beat. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were mad at him for something he did or didn't do. Or just maybe you're trying to make him jealous. Am I wrong?"

Alexis coldly turned her back to her brother. "…Look, you have no clue what you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to help out with a class."

With that, Alexis calmly walked off the stage. Atticus gave a heavy sigh before leaving the stage himself to go find Reggie.

* * *

Jaden stood out on the roof of the academy's main building looking out over the ground. His mind was lost in thought about what was going on with Alexis. The way things were turning out, it seemed like he had lost her to David. He had missed out, an all because he had realized his feelings too late.

Yubel appeared to stand next to Jaden. "Look at the bright side, you gave that jerk, Rabb his comeuppance. Someone with his ego probably can't stand the fact that he was beaten using a cute little monster like our little Winged Kuriboh."

"I think I screwed up, Yubel." Jaden told her. "When that duel was all over, it looked like Alexis had been rooting for David and not me."

Yubel gave a heavy sigh. "I'm probably going to hate myself later for saying this, but you don't know anything for sure. The only thing to do is have a talk with Alexis and find out where the two of you stand."

"You know something Yubel… I think you're right." Jaden agreed. "I need to go have a word with Alexis right now."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I ended up creating three of my own cards in order to make the duel between Jaden and David work. Two of the cards were ones used by David, Saturn Probe 7 and Berserk A.I. The other was the Trap that Jaden used to summoned Winged Kuriboh. The name of the card is a subtle nod to the role Winged Kuriboh played in the manga. I've gotten used to creating my own cards for Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfics, but I try not to go overboard with it.

Anyway, I know this chapter's duel was a slight departure from the Ritual Monster theme of this story, but there was no good way around it. The rest of the duels in this story will have at least one Ritual Monster in it. Also, the characters of Sheila and Sophie will play somewhat important roles later in this story. In fact, Sheila's appearance was inspired by the illustration of a certain Ritual Spell. All I'll say for now is that it's a card that came out in the Number Hunters booster set.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	4. The Vanishing Students

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Vanishing Students

Sophie nervously headed for the abandoned shed where Mick had asked to meet with her. She had no idea what Mick wanted to talk with her about, but she had been thinking about it during the entire duel between Jaden and David. Sophie had been so preoccupied with the matter she had hardly paid attention to the duel. Sheila had told her that Jaden had handed David an upsetting defeat using Winged Kuriboh, but she had to take her word for it. Sophie had been so busy trying to figure out what Mick wanted to tell her that everything else was a total blank.

The truth was that Sophie had more than just a crush on Mick. She was in love with him. She had been ever since she had first laid eyes on him. Sophie had bumped into Mick during her first day at the academy. She had tripped over a rock while wander the grounds and Mick had spotted her and helped her up. The two of them became friends soon after that event, but Sophie had never gotten up the nerve to tell Mick how she really felt about him. She had always been quite shy, and the fact that Mick always seemed to have female admirers around him didn't make things any easier.

After a few minutes of walking, Sophie finally made it to the old abandoned shed. She saw Mick there waiting for her in front of the door. Sophie's heart began to pound a bit faster. After taking a big gulp, she began to walk over.

"There you are." Mick greeted with a warm smile. "Thanks for showing up."

"I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" Sophie asked.

"Not at all." Mick assured her. "In fact I needed a few minutes to prepare before you got here."

"So… what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Sophie nervously asked.

"Not out here." Mick replied. "We'll talk in the shed. I want this to be private."

"Oh, uh… okay." Sophie agreed.

Mick opened the door and let Sophie go in first. Inside, Sophie saw a table against the far wall of the shed lit with candles. Drawn on the wall above the table in what looked like chalk was an odd almost star-shaped symbol with what looked like an eye drawn in the center. The two points on the side curved upward to look like horns. Mick closed and latched the door behind them and the light of the candles completely filled the room.

"Mick, what's going on?" a confused Sophie asked. "What is all this?"

Suddenly Mick gently grabbed her by the arm and pinned her against the wall, causing her gasp. Sophie found herself looking deeply into Mick's dark-blue eyes. His eyes had a look that she had never seen before. There was something wild and predatory about them. It terrified Sophie a bit, but at the same time it greatly excited her. She was seeing a side of Mick that she never knew was there and found that she was enjoying it.

"You're a real pretty girl, Sophie." Mick told her as he gently stroked her left cheek. "I've had my eye on you for some time now."

"You… you have?" the surprised blonde asked as her face turned bright red.

"I know how you really feel about me Sophie." Mick continued. "And I thought that maybe it was about time I showed you how I feel about you?"

"Mick, what're you…?" Sophie attempted to ask.

Before she could finish, Mick kissed her hard on the lips. She quickly felt his tongue pressing against her mouth. Eagerly she opened her mouth to allow him access. Their tongues began to move against one another. After what seemed like an eternity they broke apart for air. Sophie's mind was frantically trying to figure out what was going on, but her brain didn't seem to want to function right. Everything seemed to be happening so fast.

Mick smiled and pulled off Sophie's glasses. "You have such lovely eyes."

"Mick, I…" Sophie began to speak.

The white-haired young man quickly captured her lips in another deep kiss. As their tongues mingled, Mick's hands went to work unbuttoning Sophie's uniform jacket. After he removed her jacket and let it drop to the floor, Mick pulled up the pink shirt that was underneath, revealing Sophie's white bra. They broke for air again and Mick reached behind and undid the bra, causing it to drop to reveal her breasts.

"Beautiful." Mick spoke as he began massaging the blonde's bare chest.

Sophie moaned softly as Mick began kneading her breasts. She had become lost in the pleasure that he was giving her. Before long Mick stopped and looked Sophie straight in the eye.

"I want to make you mine, Sophie." Mick told her. "Will you give yourself to me?"

"…I would do anything for you, Mick." Sophie told her.

Mick smiled and took a moment to open his jacket and undo his belt before pulling down his pants, finally releasing his hardened manhood. He lifted up Sophie's skit and pulled aside the crotch of her panties, revealing her moist opening. Mick pushed his hardened rod into her, and Sophie felt a wave of pain wash over her. He began moving his hips very slowly to allow her to get used to the feeling. It was not long though before pain transmuted into pleasure.

Sophie wrapped her legs around Mick's waist, causing him to buck his hips harder and faster. The walls of the old shed began to creak with their movements. She had never felt such intense pleasure before in her life. All sense of time seemed to vanish as Mick thrust into her with all his strength. An eternity passed, and Sophie could feel herself coming close to the edge.

"Mick! I think I'm going to…" Sophie managed to say.

Mick said nothing and simply picked up his pace. For a moment Sophie thought she was going to be pushed through the wall. With one last thrust from Mick, they both came to a hard climax at the same time. Sophie's mind was completely blown as she felt a warmth rush into her.

With Sophie in a daze, Mick grinned and pulled a ceremonial dagger from his jacket pocket. "By the will of Zott, you will now serve me."

* * *

After doing a little asking around, Jaden finally found the classroom where Alexis was helping out as an assistant. By the time he got there, the class had already wrapped up and the students were flowing out of the room. Jaden peeked into the room and saw Alexis standing behind a desk stacking papers. There was no one else in the room, which meant that she and Jaden were alone. Jaden found that he was feeling a bit nervous, but it seemed like he might not have a better chance for him and Alexis to talk.

Taking a deep breath, Jaden walked into the classroom. "Hey Lex. Got a minute?"

"Huh?" Alexis responded as she looked up from her papers. "Oh, hi Jaden. I'm afraid I don't really have time to talk right now. The next class starts in about five minutes and I need to get everything ready."

"Please Lex, it's important." Jaden told her. "I have to know… is there something going on between you and David?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Alexis asked.

"Are you and he… like a couple?" Jaden managed to ask.

"And what if we are?" Alexis responded as she began placing the papers she had been stacking on the student desks. "It's not like you'd actually care if we were."

"What did I do to make you mad at me?" a confused Jaden asked. "If this is because I haven't kept in touch with you, I'm sorry. But hey, it's not like I've heard from you all that much either."

"Yeah? Well I've been busy training to become an academy teacher." Alexis told him. "Not everyone can just wander around the world having fun like you, ya know! Some of us have to work hard to achieve our dreams."

"And what the heck is that supposed to mean?" Jaden asked.

"Just why are we having this talk?" Alexis demanded to know. "What is it that you're trying to say to me?"

Jaden was about to say that he thought he was in love with her, but the words became caught in his throat. He wanted to tell her, but he was afraid of how she would respond. With the mood Alexis was in, it seemed like she would simply bite his head off.

"Look, I don't have time for this." Alexis told him with a frustrated sigh. "I have work to right now. Just get out of here and leave me alone."

"But… Alexis." Jaden responded.

"…Jaden, you and I… we're just too different now." Alexis continued. "You have your world and I have mine. I think it's best if we just kept it that way."

Defeated, Jaden left the classroom to let Alexis continue what she was doing. As he walked down the hallway, Jaden couldn't help but wonder what Alexis had meant when she said that they had become too different from one another. Yubel appeared to float alongside him. He could tell that the Duel Monster spirit was angry with Alexis.

"The nerve of that woman!" Yubel spoke. "If I had five minutes with her, I'd… well, you wouldn't want to hear what I'd do. Look, the way I see it Jaden, you're a lot better off without her."

"What did she mean when she said that we're too different now?" Jaden wondered. "Is there something different about me that she doesn't like?"

"Look, she might've been talking about herself." Yubel pointed out. "It could be that she's the one who's changed."

Yubel's theory made Jaden stop in his tracks. "I can't believe that. She may be busier than she used to be, I know she's still the same Alexis."

"Are you sure about that?" Yubel asked. "It could be that she's moved on. Maybe it's time you did the same."

"…Not yet." Jaden told her. "Not after I just figured out how I feel about her. I want to try a little longer."

Yubel gave a heavy sigh. "Okay, but be careful. I don't want to see you getting hurt by this."

"Thanks. I'll try." Jaden replied.

* * *

Mick walked the halls trying to decide on his next prey. Since taking Sophie for himself, he had conquered three other girls. But he wanted add more to his collection. Fortunately for him, he had quite the selection to choose from. The academy was full of attractive young women, and many of them were his groupies so it was easy for him to lure them in. He could have practically any girl that he wanted, save for the ones already initiated into the order. Electra had told him that there were a few.

As Mick turned a corner, he finally spotted his next target. It was a sixteen-year-old girl he knew as Freda Evans. She had straight pink hair that was tied in a ponytail and lovely violet eyes. Freda also had quite the fiery personality, but Mick knew that he could tame her. After all, Freda was one of his most devoted fans.

"Hey Freda, you got a second?" Mick asked as he approached.

"Oh, hi Mick." Freda responded as she turned around. "What's up?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about, but I don't want to do it here." Mick explained. "Can you come by the old shed later this afternoon when you're done with class?"

"Sure thing." Freda agreed. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'll be waiting." Mick replied as he turned to leave. "Later."

Mick grinned as he walked off with his hands in his pockets. He knew he was going to enjoy adding Freda to his growing collection.

* * *

Three days went by, and Jaden still had no idea what to do about Alexis. They hadn't even seen one another since the little incident in the classroom. The whole time, Jaden had been trying to figure out the best way to approach her. He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps Yubel was right. Maybe he had waited too long to get in touch with Alexis. Maybe somewhere along the line her feelings for him had changed, that she had somehow outgrown him. Or perhaps she had never seen him as anything more than just a friend.

As Jaden walked grounds that afternoon lost in thought, he suddenly felt himself bump into something. He looked and saw that the thing he had bumped into was Sheila. Jaden noticed that she seemed to have a worried look on her face.

"Oh, sorry Sheila." Jaden told her. "I guess I've got so much on my mind right now that I didn't see you."

"That's fine. I wasn't exactly watching where I was going either." Sheila admitted.

"Is something wrong?" Jaden asked.

"It's Sophie." Sheila explained. "She's been missing for about three days now."

"What happened?" a concerned Jaden asked.

"Nobody knows." Sheila answered. "She disappeared almost right after your duel with David Rabb."

"Has anyone tried looking for her?" Jaden asked.

"Well… no. That's what's really weird. It's like the teachers aren't bugged by this at all." Sheila revealed. "And Sophie's not the only student who's just vanished off the face of the earth. Students started disappearing from here about three weeks ago. And since Sophie vanished it seems like it's been getting worse. About seven more students have disappeared in the last three days."

"You're kidding!" Jaden exclaimed.

"The creepy part is that the students who're disappearing have all been girls." Sheila continued. "I don't really feel safe walking around here knowing that some psycho's prowling around here."

"Do you know anything about these girls that might explain why they've disappeared?" Jaden asked.

"Not really." Sheila replied. "I don't really know a lot of the other girls at this academy besides Sophie. But there is a list of their names on the school bulletin board."

"Why don't you show it to me." Jaden suggested.

With that, Sheila took Jaden to the large bulletin board near the academy's main entrance. In the middle of the board was a handwritten list of all the academy students who had gone missing. Jaden looked over the list and a name seemed to stick out at him, Ronda Manetti. He couldn't help but think back to his duel with Trent when he used a card called Sacrifice Maiden Ronda for a Ritual Summon.

"Looks like you and I are thinking the same thing." Yubel observed as she appeared next to him. "That card of Trent's wasn't normal."

"Uh, Sheila? Do you know the girl on this list named Ronda Manetti?" Jaden asked.

"Like I said, I don't really know a lot of the girls here too we besides Sophie." Sheila reminded him. "Although… come to think of it I may have chatted with her once during this festival we had here not too long ago. In fact I might have a picture of her on my phone."

Sheila pulled her smart phone out of her pocket and began looking through all the pictures she had saved on it. After finding the one she was looking for, the redhead held up her phone to show Jaden. The picture on the screen showed Sheila standing in front of what looked like a refreshment stand with a chocolate ice cream cone on her hand. Standing to her left in the picture was Sophie, and on her right was a young woman with long dark-green hair. Jaden and Yubel instantly recognized her as Sacrifice Maiden Ronda, and Jaden also recalled the instance when he saw Trent out the window having sex with a girl that had long dark-green hair.

"What is it?" Sheila asked, noticing the expression of shock on Jaden's face. "Do you know something?"

"Yo Jaden!" a familiar voice called before Jaden could answer. Jaden and Sheila looked to see Atticus walking towards them.

"Oh, hi Atticus." Jaden greeted back.

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Atticus observed.

After a moment, Jaden told Atticus about the missing students. Afterwards he explained to both Atticus and Sheila about what happened during his duel with Trent, particularly about how Trent had played a card that was a dead ringer for Ronda Manetti. Both Sheila and Atticus were unsettled by this news.

"Let me get this straight… you're saying that guy who's in a coma right now used a card that looked like an academy student?" Sheila asked.

"Yeah, and I think I saw Ronda before that duel too." Jaden confirmed. "Atticus, do you remember that girl we accidentally saw Trent getting it on with out the window? She had the same hair as Ronda."

"Oh boy. I don't think I like where this is headed." Atticus responded.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sheila interrupted. "Are you guys saying that some of the guys here have gone psycho and are having sex with girls before killing them, chopping up the bodies, and making weird cards that look like them?"

"Not exactly." Atticus answered. "More like some of the guys here are turning the girls they have sex with into cards. Is that what you're getting at Jaden?"

"I think so." Jaden answered. "Or at least removing their souls to put into cards."

"You guys are talking crazy!" Sheila told them. "How can people be turned into Duel Monsters cards? It's just not possible!"

"Trust me, Jaden and I have seen enough weird stuff at our old academy to know that it is." Atticus assured her. "Hell, I was possessed by a demon for a few years."

"…What?" Sheila responded with a look of disbelief.

"You know Jaden, I've been hearing a rumors about these disappearances too." Atticus continued. "One of them is that a few of the girls were going to see a hotshot here on campus named Mick Silver before they vanished. The gossip is that these girls went to go meet up with him at some old shed."

"Sheila, do you know the shed that he's talking about?" Jaden asked.

"Well… yeah." Sheila answered. "But hey, Mick's a nice guy. He wouldn't be doing stuff like this."

"Trent came after me because someone or something brainwashed him." Jaden pointed out. "The same thing might've happened to Mick. And now that I think about it, wasn't Sophie going to meet up with Mick before she vanished."

"Well yeah, but… oh god!" Sheila responded.

"I think you better take us to that shed." Atticus suggested.

Sheila nodded and led Jaden and Atticus to the old shed. By the time they got there, the three of them thought they saw a flash of white light through the crack under the door. A few moments after, the door opened and Mick walked out with a sinister grin on his face. Jaden could immediately tell that something was off about him.

"Hey!" Jaden called as they walked up, getting Mick's attention.

"Oh, Jaden Yuki. I didn't expect to see you here." Mick responded.

"You can drop the act." Jaden told him. "Now what have you done with Sophie and those other girls? We know you have something to do with why they've vanished."

"I see…" Mick responded. "Well, I guess it was just a matter of time before my little secret came out. It's just as well though. I think it's about time you and I faced off… Supreme King!"

"Supreme King?" a confused Sheila repeated. "What's he talking about?"

"I was told that anyone who defeated you would be richly rewarded." Mick continued as he activated his duel disk. "Once I take you down, I'll be hailed a hero in the glorious new age of Zott!"

Jaden glared back at Mick and activated his own duel disk. "Game on!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Originally I had thought about listing the genre of this story as Romance/Horror instead of Romance/Adventure. I may change it to that later on, because there are a few horror elements to this story. Anyway, in the next chapter we find out a little bit about what's happened to the missing students. So stay tuned.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	5. Forbidden Offerings

**Author's Note:** I went ahead and changed the genre of this story from Adventure to Horror. I had originally planned to make it a horror story, but I wasn't sure if there were enough horror elements in the story to justify it. Sometimes it's best to go with your first instincts.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 5: Forbidden Offerings

"I'll start things off." Mick declared as he drew his first card to kick off the duel. "First I activate the Spell card, Terraforming and add a Field Spell to my hand. And then I play the Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

In an instant, the area around Jaden and the others transformed into a grey mountainous wasteland with a sky filled with dark clouds. In the distance, Jaden saw the same structure behind Mick that he had seen when he dueled Trent.

"I've never heard of this Field Spell before." Sheila spoke as she looked at their new surroundings.

"This must be the same Field Spell that Jaden told us about before." Atticus observed.

"I summon Cleric of the Dark Arts in Defense Mode!" Mick announced.

Appearing on Mick's side of the battlefield was a man with pale skin wearing black hooded robes with strange white markings on them. On the chest was the same strange star-like marking that was engraved on the top of the odd structure in the distance. The hood of the man's robes made it impossible to make out most of his face. Under his right arm, the hooded man carried a book with a brown leather cover.

"I end my turn!" Mick announced.

"Whatever that monster is, it looks like it might be connected to the Domain of Rituals." Yubel observed as she appeared next to Jaden.

"Yeah, and we don't know anything about its effects." Jaden quietly replied.

"Whatever abilities that monster has, it must have something to do with Ritual Monsters." Yubel assumed. "Just be careful."

Jaden nodded and drew his first card. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

Avian appeared on the field with a grey haired woman with light-grey skin. She had on a red tight-fitting bodysuit with a golden helmet. The two heroes jumped into a small vortex that had appeared in the air over the battlefield. Flying out of the vortex a moment later was a green and black warrior with a slightly deformed wing growing from the left side of his back. His right arm was red and had a dragon's head instead of a hand, and he had a red dragon-like tail as well.

"Flame Wingman, attack Cleric of the Dark Arts!" Jaden commanded. "Flame Shoot!"

The fused hero took aim at the wicked cleric with his dragon's head and shot forth a single fireball. The dark cleric was destroyed in a small explosion of fire and smoke.

"That's not all!" Jaden continued. "Because Flame Wingman destroyed your monster in battle, you take damage equal to its ATK!"

"Big deal." Mick responded with a smug expression. "Cleric of the Dark Arts only had 700 ATK."

Flame Wingman took aim at Mick and shot another fireball at him. Mick was struck in the chest and his life points dropped to 3300.

"Because Cleric of the Dark Arts was destroyed in battle, I can add a Ritual Monster and a Ritual Spell to my hand!" Mick announced as he took two cards from his deck.

"Fine. I end my turn." Jaden announced.

Mick grinned as he drew his next card. "I activate a Ritual Spell known as War-Lion Ritual! By using Sacrifice Maiden Freda from my hand as an offering, I summon Super War-Lion!"

A young woman with pink hair tied in a ponytail wearing a white Roman-style dress appeared on the battlefield. Her face looked as though she was in some kind of trance. Suddenly a yellow specter in the form of a lion came down from the sky and devoured her, causing a pillar of yellow light to erupt from the ground. The pillar faded, and standing on the battlefield was a humanoid lion with a body of tan fur and a long red mane. The lion roared as his body glowed briefly with a white aura and his eyes flashed red.

"That monster you used to summon War-Lion… that was one of this missing girls, wasn't it?" Jaden quickly realized.

"Oh, you mean Freda?" Mick replied. "Yeah, you figured it out. Ritual Monsters gain incredible powers when summoned with a human sacrifice. So I used the powers granted to me to turn Freda into a card!"

"She's not the only one though, is she?" Jaden deduced.

"Right again. I've got plenty of lovely sacrifices waiting in my deck." Mick revealed. "The fun parts were the ceremonies used to turn them into cards. That Freda sure had a tight ass."

"I never knew that Mick was such a creep." Sheila remarked from the sidelines.

"Well he could be brainwashed, so isn't acting like himself." Atticus pointed out.

"Are you responsible for all those students who've gone missing?" Jaden asked.

"Hey. I'm flattered you'd think that, but I can't take credit for all of 'em." Mick admitted. "A good chunk of 'em, yeah. The rest were taken by the other members of the order."

"And just what kind of order is that?" Jaden asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mick replied. "Now, I think we were in the middle of a duel. And a last time I checked, my War-Lion has 2300 ATK, making it stronger than your hero. War-Lion, slaughter Flame Wingman! War Claw!"

The man-lion roared and charged at Flame Wingman. With one slash from the large claws on his right hand, Flame Wingman was cut to ribbons. The remaining pieces of the hero shattered into bits of light. Jaden's life points dropped slightly to 3800.

"War-Lion's not done yet." Mick continued with a mad grin. "Thanks to the power he got from Freda, each time War-Lion destroys a monster in battle he deals damage equal to half that monster's ATK!"

War-Lion roared again as his eyes flashed red. The beast charged at Jaden and slashed him in the chest with the claws of his left hand. Jaden was knocked to the ground and his life points fell to 2750. The attack had also made cuts in the front of the black shirt Jaden was wearing under his jacket.

"Jaden, you okay?" a concerned Atticus asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Jaden assured him as he got back to his feet.

Mick began laughing madly. "And this is the guy who just beat David Rabb? I gotta say, this is kind of a letdown. I didn't think you'd be this easy to beat."

"This duel's far from over!" Jaden pointed out.

"Maybe. But you have no idea what's still in store." Mick told him. "I end my turn!"

Jaden drew his next card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Jaden's side of the field in a kneeling position was a large warrior covered completely in smooth yet bulky dark-grey armor. His face was covered entirely by a red mask.

"I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

"Well that was pretty pitiful." Mick remarked as he drew from his deck. "I activate the Ritual Spell, Novox's Prayer! By offering Sacrifice Maiden Debbie from my hand, I summon Skull Guardian!"

Appearing on Mick's side of the field was another young woman with short dark-brown hair and hazel eyes wearing the same kind of dress that Freda was. Also materializing on the field was another young woman with short blue hair wearing a hooded red cloak. The bluenette was on her knees and her hands were clasped together in prayer. The bluenette began chanting something and suddenly a pillar of light-blue light consumed Debbie. The light faded and bluenette vanished, and standing in Debbie's place was a slender warrior clad in strange dark-grey armor. His forearms were a pair of blades. Skull Guardian gave off a brief white glow and the eyes hidden behind his mask flashed red.

"Ah Debbie, another one of my loyal fangirls." Mick fondly recalled. "She actually played a little hard to get, but sometime the chase makes the conquest all the more fun."

"Didn't you care about any of those girls?" Jaden asked.

"Of course I did." Mick responded. "After all, it's thanks to them that my deck has gotten so strong."

"What a jerk!" Sheila declared from the sidelines.

"I have to admit, I kind a want to kick this guy in the balls." Atticus responded.

"War-Lion! Tear Clayman to shreds!" Mick ordered. "War Claw!"

"I activate a Trap, Hero Barrier!" Jaden quickly announced as the beast began to charge. "This card let's me cancel War-Lion's attack!"

Just as War-Lion moved in for the kill, a grey metal staff appeared in from of Clayman and began to spin around. The spinning rod repelled the man-lion's claws. With the attack over, the staff vanished from the field.

"You may have blocked one attack, but my Skull Guardian's ATK is still fifty points higher than your hero's DEF." Mick pointed out. "Skull Guardian, attack Clayman with Guardian Blade!"

Skull Guardian leapt high into the air and came back down on Jaden's side of the battlefield. With one slash of his right arm blade, Clayman was cut down the middle. The two remaining halves shattered into bits of light.

"That's not all." Mick continued. "Thanks to the effect Skull Guardian gained from Debbie, you now take damage equal to Clayman's level times 400!"

Skull Guardian charged at Jaden and slashed him across the chest, nearly knocking him to the ground. His life points fell again to 350.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Mick announced. "Let's see you bounce back from that, Supreme King."

Jaden drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Miracle Fusion! By removing Avian and Burstinatrix from the Graveyard, I now summon Elemental Hero Great Tornado!"

Dropping down onto the battlefield was a warrior in green, dark-brown, and yellow-tan armor. He had on a tattered dark-brown cape over his left arm. Great Tornado's appearance caused a huge gust of wind to sweep through and knock War-Lion and Skull Guardian onto their backs.

"Hey! What just happened?" Mick demanded to know.

"When Great Tornado is summoned, the ATK of all my opponent's monsters is cut in half." Jaden explained. "But I'm not done yet! I activate the Spell card, Parallel World Fusion! By returning Avian and Burstinatrix to the Graveyard, I summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!"

Appearing in a burst of flames was a warrior clad in ornate red, orange, and yellow armor. On the hero's back was a red flowing cape.

"Great Tornado, attack Super War-Lion!" Jaden commanded. "Super Cell!"

Great Tornado raised his arms and a massive twister of wind appeared around War-Lion. The lion was torn to shreds by the strong winds in an instant. Mick's life points dropped down to 1650.

"Nova Master, take down Skull Guardian!" Jaden ordered. "Supreme Flare!"

Nova Master raised his arms forward and blasted Skull Guardian with a stream of intense flames. Mick's life points plummeted to a mere seventy-five.

"Since Nova Master destroyed a monster in battle, I get to draw a card!" Jaden announced.

"Whoa! This duel's even more mind-blowing than Jaden's duel with David Rabb." An impressed Sheila declared.

"It'd be more fun if this guy wasn't using cards made using people." Atticus pointed out. "Still, I doubt that Mick can bounce back after an attack like that."

Suddenly Mick burst into another fit of mad laughter. "Nice move, but because you've destroyed two of my Ritual Monsters in battle I activate the Trap, Rites of Vengeance!"

A pillar of blue flames suddenly burst up from the ground and burned Nova Master to ashes, greatly surprising Jaden and the others. Soon after, Mick's body glowed with a white aura and his life points rose to 2675.

"What just happened?" a confused Jaden asked.

"Rites of Vengeance allows me to sacrifice the weakest monster my opponent controls and gain life points equal to that monster's ATK." Mick explained. "Not only that, I get to add another Ritual Monster and Ritual Spell to my hand."

"What the…? How the hell did he manage a move like that?" a shocked Atticus wondered.

"Well, Mick is one of the top students at this school." Sheila pointed out. "Plus he's using all those weird cards."

"I end my turn." Jaden announced.

Mick's grin widened as he drew his next card. "I've saved the best for last! I activate the Spell card, Zera Ritual! I offer Sacrifice Maiden Sophie from my hand to summon… Zera the Mant!"

Two things appeared on Mick's side of the battlefield. One was a warrior sitting on a dark throne wearing a green helmet with short red horns. The other was a young blonde woman that to Jaden and Sheila's horror looked exactly like Sophie. The warrior sitting on the throne shot Sophie in the back with two beams of light from his eyes, causing her to be vaporized. A mass of black energy then erupted from the throne, completely consuming the warrior. The energy faded and standing on Mick's side of the field was a large blue demon with a dragon-like head wearing a red cape. The demon's body glowed briefly with a feint white aura and his eyes flashed red.

"So… it's true." Jaden realized. "You really did turn Sophie into a card."

"She was my first." Mick admitted. "That girl was willing to do anything for me."

"You bastard!" Sheila cursed. "How the hell could you do that to Sophie? She was head over heels for you, and you do this to her? Didn't you care about her at all?"

"Of course I care. Sophie's actually quite special to me." Mick admitted. "Out of all the girls I've collected for my deck, the ability that her card grants to my monsters is perhaps the strongest. Let me show you what I mean. Zera, attack Great Tornado! Demon Dragon Claw!"

"But Zera and Great Tornado both have 2800 ATK." Atticus pointed out. "A battle like that will destroy them both!"

Zera charged towards Great Tornado, and the hero responded by raising his arms up and trapping the demon in a twister. The twister soon died down, but Zera was unharmed by the attack. His body was glowing with a pink aura. Zera continued his changed and slashed Great Tornado in the chest with his large claws. The hero of wind shattered into bits of light and vanished.

"What the…? How is Zera still on the field?" a confused Sheila wondered.

"You were right about Sophie, my dear Sheila. Thanks to her effect, Zera can no longer be destroyed in battle." Mick explained. "Right now her love for me is protecting Zera and giving me a huge edge."

"You really are disgusting." Jaden told Mick with a glare. "Sophie truly cared about you, and all those other girls you took admired you. And all you've done is use them for your own pleasure and to get ahead! How can you call yourself a duelist?"

"Oh please! I don't need you to give me a lecture." Mick told him. "Since coming to this academy I've been considered one of the top duelists at this school. But I've always been in the shadow of greats like David Rabb and Reggie Mackenzie. No matter what I did, I was always considered second best to them. But now I have true power! And I shall become a king in the new age that is to come!"

"I don't think so!" Jaden told him.

"Oh yeah? Well I have news for you. Because of Domain of Rituals, Ritual Monsters like Zera can't be destroyed by card effects." Mick revealed. "And thanks to the effect he's gained from my lovely Sophie, he can't be destroyed in battle either. Which means he's completely indestructible! There's no way you can defeat me now!"

"Watch me!" Jaden told him as he drew his next card. "I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman to the field!"

Materializing on Jaden's side of the field was a warrior clad in a blue bodysuit with gold armor. He had a yellow stripe running down his arms and legs.

Mick burst out laughing. "What the hell are you planning to do with that thing? It only has 1600 ATK."

"I activate the Spell card, Super Polymerization!" Jaden announced. "I discard one card and fuse Sparkman with the Zera the Mant to summon Elemental Hero Escuridao!"

"What?" a shocked Mick exclaimed.

A giant vortex appeared in the sky above and pulled in both Sparkman and Zera. With a flash of lightning, the vortex disappeared and a new warrior dropped down to the battlefield. The new hero had a slender body covered in pitch-black armor. Two long forked and jagged blades jutted out from the hiss back, and in place of his right hand was a weapon with three jagged blades. An unearthly blue aura emanated from the dark warrior's body.

"H-how can this be?" a stunned Mick asked.

"Escuridao gains 100 extra ATK for every Elemental Hero in my Graveyard." Jaden revealed. "Right now there are seven, which means Escuridao's ATK goes up from 2500 to 3200. That's more than enough to take you down!"

"But… this can't be!" Mick denied.

"Escuridao, attack Mick directly!" Jaden commanded. "Dark Diffusion!"

Escuridao blasted Mick in the chest with a ray of blue light from the weapon on the end of his right arm. Mick was knocked to the ground by the attack and his life points dropped to zero. With the duel at its end, Escuridao vanished and the area around jaden and the others returned to normal. Jaden walked over to check on Mick.

"Well?" Atticus asked as he and Sheila walked over.

"He's out cold." Jaden revealed. "It's just like what happened with Trent."

"What about Sophie and those other girls?" Sheila asked. "You think that… that they might've returned to normal?"

"That girl Ronda is still missing, isn't she?" Atticus reminded them. "That probably means that Sophie and the others are still gone too."

"But… what about those cards?" Sheila asked. "Maybe if we have those…"

Jaden took the cards from Mick's duel disk and looked through them all. "The Sacrifice Maiden cards are gone. So are a lot of the other cards that Mick used like Domain of Rituals."

"So what does that mean?" Sheila asked. "Does this mean that Sophie and the others are gone forever?"

"No! There has to be a way to get them back." Jaden declared as he got back to his feet. "And whatever that way is, I'll find it."

* * *

Electra opened the door to Principle Mackenzie's office to find him sitting behind his desk doing paperwork. Principle Mackenzie quickly noticed her arrival and took a break from what he was doing.

"I have news about Jaden Yuki." Electra reported. "He's just defeated Mick Silver."

"A shame. And he was one this school's top duelists." Principle Mackenzie recalled.

"The good news is that thanks to him we've collected more potential sacrifices." Electra continued. "I'm sure a few of them will be useful in reviving the master."

"Yes, but Jaden Yuki could continue to be a problem." Principle Mackenzie pointed out. "The time of revival is drawing very near. The sooner we get rid of the Supreme King, the better. Perhaps we should send David to take care of him. I'm sure he's eager for a rematch."

"Actually, I was thinking that daughter of yours would be a better choice." Electra replied.

"If you think that's best." Principle Mackenzie agreed. "I'm sure that Reggie will do a fine job."

* * *

**Author's Note:** So when I did the outline for this story, I thought I'd just do the duel between Jaden and Mick in one chapter. The when I did the outline for the duel itself it seemed like I'd have to split it up. But then when I got to where I was going to cut things off in the actual chapter, it ended up being too short. So I went back to my original plan. Again, sometimes it's best to go with your first instincts.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. The Light of Ishtar

**Author's Note:** There's going to be a small reference to my previous story, _Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Strawberry Crisis_ in this chapter. Again, it's not important to understanding the story. It's just something mentioned to connect the stories to the same continuity.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (or Strawberry Panic).

* * *

Chapter 6: The Light of Ishtar

Reggie headed down the halls towards Principle Mackenzie's office, something that she did not want to be doing. In fact if it had been up to her, she wouldn't have come back to her old academy at all. But a decision like that hadn't been her decision for years, just like many other things in her life. Reggie finally reached the office and opened the door without bothering to knock. Her father was sitting behind the desk, and standing next to him was Electra. Hatred flared up within Reggie upon seeing that wretched woman's face.

"Ah, Reggie. So glad you could come." Principle Mackenzie greeted.

"It's not like I had a choice." Reggie coldly pointed out as she shut the door behind her.

"Oh come now, my dear little Reggie. Do you always have to make this so unpleasant?" Electra asked. "I would've thought that after all these we'd be friends by now."

"Will you just tell me what you both want already?" Reggie asked.

"Very well. We need you to eliminate Jaden Yuki for us." Principle Mackenzie explained. "The time of the master's revival has drawn very near. If our young visitor isn't eliminated soon, he could cause problems for us."

"What's the big deal about some bush league pro duelist?" Reggie asked. "Sure he beat David. Hell, David it had it coming if you ask me. But why are the two of you so worried about him?"

"Oh, you needn't worry yourself about that." Electra assured her. "But it's very important that you deal with him right away. And I remind you, Reggie that you're in no position to say no to your father or to me. You are merely the instrument of our will."

"You don't have to remind me about that." Reggie told them as she headed for the door. "I'll take care of it."

"Good girl. I knew we could depend on you." Electra told her as Reggie left the room.

It took every once of restraint Reggie had not to slam the door behind her. Though if it had been up to her, she would've slapped Electra across the room. She hated that woman, and she had grown to hate her father as well. Not that he had been much of a father to her ever since the day Electra showed up. Yet despite her hatred for them, Reggie had to do what they asked. Ever since that day, she had been their slave. But perhaps she had finally found a way out.

Though her father and Electra didn't say why, there had to be a reason why they both wanted Jaden out of the way. The only reason for that would be if he posed some kind of threat to them. Perhaps he had some kind of power that they couldn't deal with. Reggie realized that if she could somehow take that power for herself, she would be the one in control and not Electra and her father. She would be free for the first time in years. Knowing what she had to do, Reggie went off to go find Jaden.

* * *

Atticus roamed the halls of the academy until he found the office where Alexis was working. Alexis was sitting behind a desk grading papers. Atticus noticed how small the stack was, so he decided that it would be a good time for them to have a little talk.

"So this is where they have you locked up." Atticus spoke, nearly startling Alexis. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Oh, hi Atticus." Alexis greeted. "Sorry that we haven't really talked all that much since you've been here."

"That's fine. It's not like I've really been going out of my way to see you either." Atticus pointed out. "I've sort of been working on something else for the last few days."

"Trying to put the moves on Mac again?" Alexis deduced.

"You know me too well, sis." Atticus confirmed as he went over and sat on the corner of her desk. "She's still giving me the cold shoulder, but you know how persistent I am."

"Well I'm glad the reason is because you've been chasing some girl and not because of the way I acted after Jaden's duel with David." Alexis replied.

"Speaking of Jaden, just what is going on with you two?" Atticus asked. "Are you mad at him because he hasn't kept in touch with you?"

At this, Alexis sighed. "…I guess I am a little bit mad at him about that, but it's not like I really kept in touch with him either. I've just been real busy with my work here."

"But there's something else, isn't there?" Atticus assumed. "Is it because you've gotten tired of him trying to figure out how he feels about you? Because I think he's finally done that."

"It's just… I think Jaden and I have grown apart." Alexis explained. "He and I are just too different now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Atticus asked.

"…Look, I'd really prefer if we didn't talk about this." Alexis told him.

"Fine, forget I even brought it up." Atticus agreed. "Just being a nosey brother. Now how 'bout you take a break from grading those papers so we can go have lunch?"

"Sounds great." Alexis agreed.

* * *

Jaden had spent a few hours that morning asking some of the students if they knew of anyone using the kind of cards that Trent and Mick had used against him. As Jaden thought, none of the other students knew anything about it. It was clear that whatever he was up against was good at keeping itself hidden. And he was no closer to finding a way to bring back Sophie and the other missing students. After asking what seemed like the sixtieth academy student he had run across, Jaden decided to take a break and sat down on a bench on the grounds.

As Jaden pondered his next move, Sheila walked up to him. "Hi Jaden. Any luck?"

"Afraid not." Jaden grimly replied. "I don't suppose you've been able to find anything."

"Well I did ask about that guy Trent you dueled when you got here." Sheila informed him as she sat next to him on the bench. "Some of the people I talked to told me that he started acting a little different from normal about three weeks before you showed up."

"Well, it seems like whatever's going on her has been happening for awhile now." Jaden observed. "But that doesn't really get us any closer to figuring out who or what is behind this, or how to bring Sophie and the others back."

"So what do we do now?" Sheila asked.

"I'm to say I have no clue." Jaden replied.

"So this is where you've been, Jaden Yuki." A familiar voice spoke. Jaden and Sheila looked and saw Reggie standing before them. "I've been looking for you all morning."

"What do you want, Reggie?" Jaden asked.

"I've come to challenge you to a duel." Reggie explained.

"Can it wait for another time? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now." Jaden informed her.

"Yeah, I overheard you and your friend talking." Reggie admitted. "You're trying to find out about the missing students. Or should I say, the Sacrifice Maiden cards."

Jaden narrowed his eyes at Reggie and stood from the bench. "What do you know about those cards?"

"Well, I may know how to bring those girls back." Reggie revealed. "But the only way for you to find out for sure is to beat me in a duel."

"And what would happen if I lose?" Jaden asked.

"You'll just have to duel me and find out." Reggie ominously replied. "So what do you say? Are you up for it?"

Yubel appeared to stand next to Jaden. "This has 'trap' written all over it."

"I know. But what if she really does know something?" Jaden quietly pointed out. "I don't think I can pass this up."

"I don't have all day." Reggie told him. "Either make up your mind, or I'm walking away. And you may never find out what happened to those girls."

"Jaden, be careful." Sheila told him as she stood from the bench. "Reggie Mackenzie's one of this academy's strongest students. She's just as strong as David Rabb."

"Actually I'd like to think I'm a little stronger than David, but I'll let that slide." Reggie responded. "So what do you say, Jaden?"

"Fine." Jaden finally agreed as he activated his duel disk. "Game on!"

Reggie activated her duel disk in response and the two of them drew their opening hands. As they prepared to face off, Jaden was sure that Reggie was up to something.

"Ladies first." Reggie declared as she drew her first card. "First I'll set one card on the field. Then I summon Radiant Jeral in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Reggie's side of the battlefield was some kind of floating machine made of luminous green metal. It had three yellow eyes on the front of its head, and on its back was a pair of glowing white-feathered wings. Floating above and below its body were two large golden halos.

"That ends my turn." Reggie announced.

Jaden drew his first card. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Sparkman with Elemental Hero Bladedge from my hand to summon Elemental Hero Plasma Vice!"

Sparkman appeared on the field with a large muscular warrior clad completely in golden bladed armor. The two heroes leapt into a small vortex that had appeared in the air. Moments later a large muscular version of Sparkman dropped down onto the field. He had gold armor covering his upper torso, and his forearms were clad in large gold mechanical gloves.

"I knew you'd do a Fusion Summon the moment you got the chance." Reggie revealed with a smirk. "I activate my face-down Spell card, Demise of the Land! Since you just Special Summoned a monster, I can play a Field Spell from my deck. And the card I play is Domain of Rituals!"

In seconds the surrounding landscape transformed into an all too familiar grey wasteland under a dark cloud-covered sky. Jaden and Sheila saw the same odd castle-like structure in the distance behind Reggie.

"I knew it! You're part of the same group that Mick and Trent were with." Jaden observed.

"I was actually ordered to take you out." Reggie admitted. "But I actually have my own reasons for wanting to beat you."

"And just what reasons are those?" Jaden asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Reggie told him.

"Yeah? Well it's still my turn!" Jaden reminded her. "Plasma Vice, take down Radiant Jeral! Plasma Pulsation!"

Plasma Vice raised his arms forward and his body began crackling with gold electricity. A sphere of crackling energy began to form between the hero's large forearms. Plasma Vice shot the ball at Jeral, causing the heavenly machine to explode in a flash of flames and smoke. Reggie's life points dropped slightly to 3400.

"I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Reggie drew her next card. "I activate a Continuous Spell known as Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!"

Appearing behind Reggie was what looked like part of an ornate throne room with Roman pillars and a red curtain covering the far wall. There was no ceiling over the structure though. It was though the construction of whatever castle that room was supposed to go with had stopped.

"Thanks to Valhalla, since I control no other monsters I can summon a Fairy-type monster from my hand." Reggie announced. "Descend… Splendid Venus!"

A dazzling flash of golden light suddenly washed out the area behind Reggie. The light died down a little, and floating behind her was a large angelic figure with four white-feathered wings on her back. She had a white mask-like face with a pointed golden helmet and robes that looked as though they were made of golden armor. Her large ornate skirt consisted of several gold plates. In her left hand she carried a long golden staff with a ring at the top that had a cross with a green gem in the center.

"Be careful, Jaden!" Sheila called from the sidelines. "That thing is Reggie's strongest monster!"

"As long as Venus is on the field, all non-Fairy monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF." Reggie revealed. "By the way, Venus is part of the same series of planet monsters as David's Big Saturn. A shame you don't have the Elemental Hero card that's part of that series. I did face this one duelist who had that card though. Her name was Shizuma. She actually ended up beating me."

"Glad to hear Shizuma hasn't lost her touch." Jaden remarked.

"Yeah, well you aren't going to have it as easy." Reggie told him. "I activate the Spell card, War Goddess Light! Since Venus is on the field, I can add a certain pair of cards to my hand. Now I activate one of those cards, a Ritual Spell known as Awaken of Ishtar!"

Two pairs of golden torches lit with blue flames appeared on the ground near Venus. One pair of the torches was in front of the angel while the other two were behind her.

"Normally, I'd have to offer up monsters who's total levels equaled ten or more to perform this ritual." Reggie continued. "But I can also use Venus as the entire tribute. So I now sacrifice Venus in order to summon Splendid Ishtar!"

The flames from the four torches shot up and struck Venus's chest and back. The angelic being exploded in a flash of golden light and bits of her armor flew away in all directions. The light died down a bit, revealing that Venus had taken on a new form. Her long ornate skirt had opened up in the front, revealing long legs with white skin. She wore a pair of red sandals upon her feet. The armored plates of her skirt that remained had turned red.

The red and gold armor that remained on the angel's torso revealed her midriff. Painted on her stomach above her bellybutton in red was the sign of the planet, Venus. Her arms had become bare, save for a pair of golden bracelets with red trim. Venus' original white mask remained, but she had a new red helmet with gold trim and gold-feathered wings on the side. A small green diamond-shaped gem adorned the front of the helmet. Hanging out from beneath the helmet was long shimmering blonde hair that went down to the angel's waist. In her left hand the angel carried an ornate golden spear, and on her left arm was a round red shield with gold trim.

"So that's a Ritual Monster form of Venus." Jaden observed.

"Right. This is an ancient form of Splendid Venus awakened by my Spell card." Reggie explained. "In addition to having 3400 ATK, Ishtar also lowers the ATK of all non-Fairy monsters lose 1000 ATK and DEF. Which means that hero of yours doesn't stand a chance. Ishtar, destroy Plasma Vice! Divine Feather Strike!"

Ishtar flapped her four wings and pelted Plasma Vice with a storm of white feathers that glowed with a fiery golden light. In seconds Plasma Vice shattered into bits of light. Jaden's life points dropped to 2200.

"I activate my Trap, Hero Signal!" Jaden announced. "Because Plasma Vice was destroyed, I can summon another Hero from my deck! I summon Elemental Hero Clayman!"

"I don't think so!" Reggie responded.

Clayman quickly appeared on the battlefield. But as soon as he did, a beam of green light shot down from the gem on Ishtar's helmet. Clayman was struck in the chest by the beam and exploded. Jaden's life points dropped down further to 1400.

"What just happened?" a stunned Jaden asked.

"Since Ishtar was summoned using Venus, she gains an extra effect." Reggie explained. "Once during either our turns when you Special Summon a monster, I can destroy that monster and inflict 800 points of damage."

"This could really be trouble." Yubel observed as she reappeared next to Jaden. "Now Reggie can shot down almost any Fusion Summon you try to do."

"Yeah, and if she plays a card that prevents me from Special Summoning more than once per turn, I'm dead." Jaden quietly responded. "I have to figure out a way to end this quickly."

"It's over for you, now that I have Ishtar on the field." Reggie continued. "And once I beat you, I'll finally have what I'm after."

"And just what is it that you want?" Jaden demanded to know.

"Your power." Reggie explained. "Or whatever it is that you have that makes the ones I work for want to destroy you. Once I beat you, I'll figure out a way to take that power from you, and then I'll finally be free."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but you're dreaming if you think you can take my power!" Jaden told her. "This duel has only just gotten started! I swear I'm going to take you down!"

"And what will happen if you manage to do that?" Reggie asked with a smug expression. "Don't you remember why we started this little battle? You wanted to find out how to bring back the girls who were turned into Sacrifice Maidens. But if you somehow manage to beat me, I'll just end up like those two students that you dueled. Which means I won't be able to tell you anything."

"And how do I know you're not lying?" Jaden pointed out.

"Trust me, this I'm not lying about." Reggie assured him. "The choice is yours. Either take a dive and maybe find out how to save those girls, or beat me and maybe lose the secret forever. I'll let you decide… hero."

* * *

**Author's Note:** So this story now has its first cliffhanger. The duel in this chapter and the next was a little hard to write due to a few technical issues. Anyway, to go with the theme of this story I ended up making a Ritual Monster for Reggie. It's based somewhat on the ancient war goddess Inana Ishtar (I think I spelled the first name right) who was represented by the planet Venus. At least that's what I remember from the one Art History class I took. If I got that fact wrong, I apologize.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. Wrath of the King

**Author's Note:** I ended up working on a good chunk of this chapter last night before I went to bed. It's been a long time since I've had this kind of energy writing a fanfic.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 7: Wrath of the King

"I'll end my turn there." Reggie announced. "If I were you, I'd forfeit. That is if you really want to know how to bring back those girls."

"You can't just give up this duel." Yubel told Jaden. "For all we know, Reggie doesn't really know how to bring those girls back. But more importantly, she and these other ritual duelists seem to be playing for keeps. Even if she did know the truth, you and I wouldn't be around to hear it."

"I know." Jaden quietly agreed. "But still…"

"There's something else to consider too." Yubel continued. "Say Reggie does have some kind of way to take your power if she beats you. Think what might happen if she gets her hands on it. I highly doubt that she'd use it to bring world peace. It's up to you, but I think we both know what the right thing to do is."

"…Yeah, you're right." Jaden agreed.

"So what's it gonna be?" Reggie asked. "Are you going to take a dive, or are you going to fight to the end to try and save those girls?"

"Jaden! Would it be so bad if… if you just gave up and let Reggie win this one?" Sheila asked. "I mean then we just might get Sophie and all the others back. Doesn't that seem more important than just winning some duel?"

"Sheila… I know how you feel, believe me. But there's a lot more at stake on this duel than you realize." Jaden told her. "If I let Reggie win, then it could mean I'd be putting the whole world in danger. Besides, I'm a duelist. It's might nature to fight right up until the end."

"But if she goes into a coma…" Sheila attempted to argue.

"For all we know, Reggie could be lying." Jaden pointed out. "And even if she isn't we'll find another way to bring back Sophie and the others. I promise you that."

"Jaden…" Sheila responded.

"So you're going to fight to the end, huh?" Reggie responded. "I guess it doesn't really matter. There's no way you can win with Ishtar on the field. It's a shame you won't be able to keep your promise to your friend."

"We'll see about that!" Jaden told her as he drew his next card. "I activate the Spell card, Pot of Greed. This card lets me draw two more cards from my deck!"

"Go ahead and draw all the cards you want. Nothing you do can help you defeat Ishtar." Reggie confidently declared.

"We'll see about that! I summon Neo-Spacian Grand Mole!" Jaden announced. The space mole appeared on the battlefield. "I attack Ishtar with Grand Mole! And when Grand Mole attacks a monster, I can return both him and that monster to our hands!"

Grand Mole's shoulder armor rotated upward and turned into a drill bit that covered his head. The mole dove into the ground and created a large hole on the battlefield. Soon after, a large hole appeared beneath Ishtar and sucked the war goddess into the ground. With both monsters gone and the field empty, the two holes closed up.

"I activate the effect of Domain of Rituals!" Reggie announced. "Since Ishtar was returned to my hand, I can get her Ritual Spell back from the Graveyard. In other words, Ishtar will just come back later."

"Maybe. But since you can use Splendid Venus as a sacrifice for the Ritual, Ishtar won't have her effect that lets her destroy Special Summoned monsters." Jaden pointed out.

"Don't be so sure." Reggie told him with a smug expression.

Suddenly a dazzling flash of golden light appeared behind Reggie. The light died down and Venus reappeared to hover behind the blonde duelist.

"What just happened?" a surprised Jaden asked.

"When I got Awakening of Ishtar back from the Graveyard, its secondary effect was activated and let me summon Splendid Venus from the Graveyard." Reggie explained. "In other words, I can use Venus to summon Ishtar all over again. That little move with Grand Mole accomplished nothing."

Jaden gritted his teeth in frustration. "In that case I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!"

Reggie chuckled as she drew her next card. "I activate Awakening of Ishtar and sacrifice Venus to summon Splendid Ishtar!"

The four torches golden torches reappeared on the battlefield around Venus and struck her in the torso with streams of blue flames. Venus exploded in a dazzling flash of golden light and pieces of her armor shattered away. The light died down to reveal that Venus had transformed back into Ishtar.

"This duel ends now! Ishtar, attack Jaden directly!" Reggie commanded. "Divine Feather Strike!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Jaden announced. "This card cancels Ishtar's attack and ends the Battle Phase!"

Ishtar flapped her four wings and sent a barrage of glowing feathers at Jaden. But before they could hit, every single one of the feathers was sucked into a vortex that appeared in front of the wandering pro duelist.

"Guess I'll end my turn then." Reggie announced. "Looks like you've managed to buy yourself a little more time. Not that it'll help. There's no way you can turn this duel around."

"As long as there are still cards in my deck, I still have a shot at taking you down!" Jaden declared.

"Fine, say you do somehow beat me. Then what?" Reggie asked. "You'll be back to square one on finding out how to bring back those girls. Are you really willing to just throw away their lives just so you can beat me? And some people say I'm cold."

"I've had enough of this!" Sheila interrupted. "Look, it seems like you've pretty much won already anyway. So if you really know how to bring back Sophie and the others, why don't you just tell us?"

"Well… I guess I could tell you since there really isn't any way for Jaden to turn this around." Reggie agreed. "The truth is I don't know how to bring them back. I don't know if those girls can even be brought back at all. Hell, I don't even know how they were turned into cards. For all we know, the process could've destroyed their bodies. Which means those girls are pretty much dead."

Sheila's eyes widened in horror at the possibility Reggie suggested. "That… that can't be true!"

"Face it, that friend of yours is probably gone for good." Reggie told her. "But hey, at least her death wasn't a total waste. She probably does make a pretty decent card. Maybe if I find it, I'll give it to you as a souvenir."

"NO!" Sheila responded.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Jaden shouted.

Suddenly Jaden's body began to give off a massive black aura, surprising both Sheila and Reggie. Jaden's brown eyes began to glow, flashing to gold before his right eye turned orange and his left eye turned teal.

"What… what are you?" a somewhat frightened Reggie asked.

"I am the one who wields the Darkness of Justice." Jaden responded in an echoing voice. "I am the Supreme King!"

"Well whatever you are, you still don't have a chance at winning." Reggie insisted.

"We'll see about that!" Jaden told her as he drew his next. "Since I have no monsters on the field, I activate the Spell card, Convert Contact! By discarding Grand Mole and sending Neo Spacian Flare Scarab from my deck to the Graveyard, I can draw two more cards!"

Jaden drew two more cards from his deck. As he did, his deck seemed to give off a sound like that of a sword being drawn.

"I activate another Spell card, Ancient Rules!" Jaden announced. "With this card, I summon Elemental Hero Neos!"

"And I activate Ishtar's effect!" Reggie announced. "Which means Neos is destroyed!"

Jaden's white hero of space materialized on the battlefield. But as soon as he appeared, Ishtar shot a beam of green light from her helmet that hit Neos in the chest and blew him away. Jaden's life points dropped to 600.

"You can only use Ishtar's effect once per turn!" Jaden pointed out. "So I activate another Spell card, Swing of Memories! With this card, I summon Neos back from the Graveyard!" In a flash of white light, Neos reappeared on the battlefield.

Reggie began to chuckle. "So what? Neos will go back to the Graveyard at the end of the turn due to your Spell's effect. And thanks to Ishtar, he only has 1500 ATK."

"Not for long!" Jaden told her. "I equip Neos with the card, Sword of the Supreme King!"

A large black sword dropped down from the sky and landed next to Neos with the blade sticking in the ground. In the center of the crossguard was a round gemstone that resembled a red demonic eye. Neos drew the sword from the ground and used it to slash the air. The hero's eyes began to glow gold and his body started giving off a massive black aura.

"Sword of the Supreme King can only be equipped to Neos or one of his other forms." Jaden revealed. "And as long as he wields the sword, he's unaffected by the abilities of other monsters. Which means his ATK returns to 2500."

"Even so, Ishtar still has 3400 ATK." Reggie reminded him. "There's no way Neos can defeat her."

"When a monster equipped with Sword of the Supreme King attacks a monster with higher ATK, that monster loses 2000 ATK during the battle!" Jaden revealed.

"What?" Reggie exclaimed.

"Neos! Cut Splendid Ishtar to shreds!" Jaden commanded. "Wrath of the King!"

Neos swung his sword and sent a massive blade of black energy at Ishtar. The war goddess was cut down the middle and the two halves shattered apart into bits of light. The attack continued on and struck Reggie, blowing the hat off her head and reducing her life points to 2300.

"You may have destroyed Ishtar, but I've still got plenty of life points left!" Reggie pointed out. "And Neos goes back to the Graveyard at the end of this turn which means this duel isn't over yet."

"Wrong!" Jaden responded. "I activate another effect of Sword of the Supreme King! Since Neos destroyed another monster in battle, I can send Sword of the Supreme King to the Graveyard to allow Neos to attack again this turn!"

Reggie's eyes widened in shock and horror. "But… that means…"

"Neos, attack Reggie directly!" Jaden commanded. "King's Sword Throw!"

Neos threw the black sword at Reggie. The sword pierced her through the center of her chest and stabbed her all the way through. Her remaining life points dropped to zero. With a look of shock on her face, Reggie's trembling hand touched the area around the wound and saw that there was blood. Her lips moved as if she was trying to say something.

Suddenly Reggie became enveloped in a massive pillar of white light that washed out the entire area. In moments the light vanished along with Neos and the area around the duel returned to normal. Jaden's body had stopped giving off its black aura and his eyes had returned to their normal brown. He walked over and knelt down next to Reggie's fallen form. The sword had disappeared from her body and there was no sign of a wound.

"Is… is she dead?" an unsettled Sheila asked.

"No, she's alive." Jaden assured her after noticing she was still breathing. "Sorry if I scared you."

"Uh, no. It's fine." Sheila assured her. "Actually that was kinda cool… in a frightening sort of way I guess."

"You really lost your temper there." Yubel remarked as she reappeared next to Jaden.

Suddenly Reggie stirred and opened her eyes. She looked up at Jaden with a frightened look in her eyes.

"Looks like you didn't end up in a coma after all." Jaden observed as he got back to his feet. "Now it's time you give us some answers!"

"W-what are you talking about?" a delirious Reggie asked. "Who are you?"

Jaden took a closer look at Reggie's expression. He immediately noticed that there was something different about her eyes. Her eyes no longer showed the same darkness that they had during the duel. Nor did they show any signs of recognition.

"Great! So she's no longer brainwashed, but now it looks like she doesn't remember anything from when she was being controlled." Yubel observed.

"Hey!" a familiar voice interrupted. Jaden and the others looked to see Atticus quickly approaching. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Atticus?" a still delirious Reggie identified. "What… are you doing here?"

"Mac, are you okay?" a very concerned Atticus asked. "What happened?"

"I… I don't…" Reggie responded before passing out.

Atticus glared at Jaden and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell did you do?"

"Whoa! Atticus, chill!" Sheila told him as she quickly moved to stop Atticus from punching Jaden in the face. "Reggie came after us! She was brainwashed or something just like Mick and that other guy!"

A surprised Atticus let go of Jaden. "You mean… Reggie was working with those other guys?"

"Atticus, I think we should take Reggie with us back to the guesthouse." Jaden suggested. "After that, I'll explain to you what happened."

Atticus agreed and carried Reggie himself as he and Jaden headed back to the guesthouse with Sheila. After helping to get Reggie settled into one of the room, Sheila left to go back to the dorms. Soon after, Jaden and Atticus headed to the balcony where Jaden told Atticus about what happened during the duel. Though he left out the part where Reggie was impaled through the chest.

"And she really doesn't remember anything?" Atticus asked.

"At least not anything about the stuff she did while under the influence of whatever we're up against." Jaden answered. "She remembers you at least. But she didn't seem to have any idea who I was."

"How long do you think this has been going on?" Atticus asked.

"No clue." Jaden replied. "But at least she isn't in a coma like Mick or Trent."

"Yeah. Thank god for that." Atticus agreed. "Whatever's going on, I'll take care of looking after Reggie. In the meantime, you just focus on figuring out who or what the hell is behind all this."

"You got it." Jaden replied. And with that, Atticus went back into the house.

"Well this sure was an interesting day." Yubel remarked as she appeared.

Jaden pulled the Sword of the Supreme King card out of his deck. "I'd still like to know why Reggie isn't in a coma like Mick and Trent."

"That card you used to beat her was made using your power." Yubel pointed out. "And it looks like it completely severed whatever was controlling Reggie's mind. I can only think of one force that's that vulnerable to your power."

"You don't mean…" Jaden responded.

"I'm afraid so." Yubel replied. "I think we might be dealing with the Light of Destruction."

* * *

Electra stormed into Principle Mackenzie's office and slammed the door shut behind her, causing the principle to look up from his paperwork. She screamed and threw one of the pictures hanging on the office wall to the ground. The glass in the frame instantly shattered.

"What happened?" Principle Mackenzie asked as he rose from his chair.

"Jaden Yuki has defeated Reggie." Electra explained. "Not only that, he managed to destroy the fragment of the master's power that I placed in Reggie when she was a child!"

"Well… I suppose it's only a minor loss." Principle Mackenzie responded as he approached. "The important thing now is getting Reggie back before she ends up causing problems for us. So I suggest we…"

Before Principle Mackenzie could finish his sentence, Electra grabbed by his throat with her right hand and lifted him off the ground. The principle gasped for air as Electra looked at him with murderous rage.

"Don't forget your place, Mackenzie!" Electra told him. "I may have given you power to help with the master's revival, but you are no more than a slave to my will just as your daughter was! Our only concern right now is destroying the Supreme King! As of now, your daughter is expendable!"

With that, Electra threw Principle Mackenzie to the floor. He remained on his knees coughing as Electra stormed out of the room.

* * *

Reggie shot up in her bed with cold sweat on her brow. She had just had a nightmare, though she couldn't seem to remember what it was about. Looking around, she saw that she was in a room that was unfamiliar to her. Reggie could tell from the light of the moon streaming in through the large window on her right that it was night out. Suddenly the door opened and Reggie saw Atticus enter the room.

"Oh, hey Mac." Atticus greeted upon noticing she was awake. "Glad to see that you're up. I was starting to worry a little."

"Rhodie?" a confused Reggie responded. "Where am I? What is this place?"

"You're at the guesthouse on Duel Academy America grounds." Atticus explained as he went over to sit in the chair by the bed. "My friend Jaden and I have been staying here for the last few days."

"I… I think I remember coming back to the academy a few days ago." Reggie recalled. "Yeah… my dad asked me to come for a visit after I had just won this tournament. I remember… I remember not wanting to come back, but I couldn't say no for some reason. But I can't remember what that reason was. It's just a big blur."

"Try not to think about it too much." Atticus told her.

"It's not just that time though." Reggie continued. "It seems like there are a whole bunch of gaps in my memory. I… also feel like I've done some bad things. It's almost like I was another person."

"It's okay now." Atticus assured her. "You're safe."

"Rhodie… do you know what's happened to me?" Reggie asked.

Atticus looked at her for a moment before giving a heavy sigh. "Look, my friend Jaden and I think that you were brainwashed. We don't know by who or why. We don't even know for how long. But my friend Jaden was able to break whatever spell you were under."

"So… for all I know I could've done some really terrible things and not even know about it." Reggie realized.

Atticus placed his hand on Reggie's. "Hey. Don't worry about it. Believe it or not, I've kind of gone what you've been through. Though my experience was pretty different."

"What do you mean?" Reggie asked.

"I was a few years ago back when I was an academy student." Atticus began. "I ended up begin possessed by a demon called Nightshroud."

"A demon? Are you serious?" Reggie asked.

"I know. It sounds ludicrous." Atticus admitted. "I don't blame you for not believing me, but it happened. And I ended up putting Alexis and a whole lot of others in danger because of it. I felt pretty bad about the things I did while under that demon's control when it was all over, but I reminded myself that I wasn't in control of my actions during that time. Just like how you weren't in control of what you did during that time. So don't worry about it, okay?"

"Yeah… okay." Reggie replied.

"Well, it's gotten pretty late." Atticus spoke as he rose from his chair. "I should let you get some rest. Goodnight, Mac."

"Rhodie, wait." Reggie spoke as she grabbed Atticus' arm.

Before Atticus could respond, Reggie pulled him in and gave him a firm kiss on the lips. She pulled away and Atticus was left trying to figure out what happened. It was as if the world had stopped moving for several moments.

"I… I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time now Rhodie." Reggie somewhat nervously began. "I love you. I've been love with you for a long time now. But whenever I had the chance, it seemed like something would always stop me. I don't know if it was whatever was controlling me all these years or just my own nerves. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that."

Atticus smiled and sat down on the side of the bed. "I'm in love with you too. Heck, I have been for a few years now, but you've always given me the cold shoulder."

"I kind of had a feeling you were interested in me too." Reggie admitted with a half-smile.

"I still am." Atticus assured her. "How 'bout we pick this up tomorrow? Like I said, you should get some rest."

"Yeah, okay." Reggie replied. With that, Atticus kissed her on the forehead and left the room.

* * *

Atticus stood under the shower as hot water cascaded all around him. The sound of the water helped him collect his thoughts. It had certainly been a notable day. The best part of it was that Reggie had finally returned his feelings for her. But he never expected that the reason why she had been so cold towards him in the past was because of whatever evil force that had taken control of her mind. Atticus couldn't help but wonder how long she had been under that control. He tried to remember the very first time that Reggie had started to act differently towards him.

Before Atticus could figure anything out, he was started to hear the door the shower open behind him. Turning around, Atticus saw a completely nude Reggie standing before him.

"Uh, Mac!" a blushing Atticus spoke. "What, uh… what're you…?"

"I don't feel like resting right now." Reggie told him as she walked up.

Before Atticus could say anything else, Reggie planted a hard kiss on his lips and jammed her tongue into his mouth. As their tongues moved against one another, Reggie's right hand went down and began stroking Atticus' already hardened rod.

After a few moments, Atticus finally managed to break away from her. "Mac, are you sure you want to go this far? I mean…"

"Please Rhodie." Reggie begged with the most seductive pout he had ever seen. "I need you to help me feel like my old self again."

After a moment, Atticus gave Reggie a rather cocky smile and the two continued to kiss. At the same time, Atticus' right hand moved and began to gently squeeze Reggie's breast, causing the blonde to moan into his mouth. They continued like this until Atticus could take no more. He pushed Reggie against the wall of the shower. Reggie wrapped her left leg around Atticus' waist, and Atticus responded by pushing his hardened manhood into her.

Reggie winced as the rod penetrated her. Atticus began to suck on her neck to take her mind off the pain. At the same time, and with every fiber of restraint he had, Atticus moved his hips very gently to allow Reggie to get used to the sensation. Before long though, Reggie wrapped her arms around Atticus's shoulders and her other leg around his waist. Atticus took the signal and began bucking his hips harder.

They continued on like this for what seemed like forever. There were a few brief moments that Atticus wonder if what he was experiencing was only a dream. Though he was fairly certain that it wasn't. No dream could possibly feel so good. Eventually Atticus could feel Reggie's inner walls tightening around him, and he knew he was coming close to the edge as well. Atticus thrust hard into Reggie one last time before they both came to a hard climax at the same moment.

When it was over, Atticus felt like his legs had turned to rubber. They both remained in the same position for some time as they caught their breath.

"That… was a ten-star performance." Atticus finally declared.

At this, Reggie chuckled a bit. "If you're up for it, we can continue this in my room."

Atticus gave Reggie a cocky grin. "Sounds good."

* * *

**Author's Note:** One thing I've found that I like to do when writing these Yu-Gi-Oh! related stories is mix things from the anime and manga together. In the case of this story, I've basically transferred a few things from the GX manga into the anime universe. I'll be honest, I'm actually not a huge fan of the manga. I mean it has some cool cards in it, and Reggie and David made interesting characters. I also like that the main villain was connected to the atrocity that created the Millennium Items. But really the manga couldn't hold a candle to the anime.

One other thing I did like from the manga though is this implication that Atticus and Reggie had some kind of romantic relationship. Though for much of the manga it seemed pretty one-sided. But there was something about that pairing that kind of struck me. So I decided that I'd try and incorporate it into a future GX story. I also really wanted to do a fanfic where the anime version of Jaden kicked David and Reggie's butts.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. The Sign of Zott

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank my one guest reviewer who suggested I do a card for this story called Shield of the Supreme King, a companion card to the Sword of the Supreme King that Jaden used last time. It may not make it into this story, but I'm sure it might make it into any future GX story I might do. We'll just how to see how this story goes.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 8: The Sign of Zott

Jaden sat at the dinning room table trying not to fall asleep in his breakfast. He had not been able to get any sleep until a little after 3:00 AM. His lack of sleep wasn't due to concern about the possible return of the Light of Destruction or the problems he was having with Alexis. Those were factors, yes. But there was another reason why Jaden had not gotten much sleep the night before. Or rather two reasons.

One of those reasons was Atticus, who was cheerfully whistling as he walked in and sat at the table. "Morning Jaden. Beautiful day, isn't it?"

Jaden responded by giving Atticus a death glare. "You do remember that my room is right around the corner from Reggie's, right?"

"Oh…" Atticus responded as a cocky grin came to his face. "Sorry 'bout that Jaden. I guess Mac and I got a little carried away last night."

"That man has no shame." Yubel remarked as she appeared behind Jaden's chair.

At that point, Reggie entered the room humming a happy little tune of some kind. She had on an oversized white shirt that Jaden assumed belonged to Atticus.

"Good morning." Reggie told Atticus before kissing him on the cheek.

"Morning, babe." Atticus responded.

"Hi there." Jaden interrupted, getting the couple's attention.

"Oh! You're Rhodie's friend Jaden, right?" Reggie recalled. "It's nice too meet you."

"Actually, we've already met." Jaden pointed out. "But it's nice to see that you're doing okay, Reggie."

"Oh please. Call me Mac." Reggie replied. "Anyway, I guess I have you to thank for freeing me for whatever was controlling me before."

"Yeah… no problem." Jaden responded, once again trying not to doze off.

"Is Jaden okay?" Reggie quietly asked Atticus. "He seems a little bit cranky."

"Oh, I'm afraid we ended up keeping him up for most of the night." Atticus explained. "Guess these walls aren't exactly soundproof."

Reggie chuckled a bit. "Oh dear. Sorry about that Jaden. Rhodie and I couldn't really control ourselves last night."

"She's just as shameless as he is." Yubel remarked.

"Guess that means they're a good match." Jaden mumbled in response.

"You say something Jaden?" Atticus asked.

"Huh? Uh no, never mind." Jaden answered.

Atticus brushed it off and whispered something in Reggie's ear. Reggie responded by quietly giggling.

Finding that he was nauseated by the display, Jaden rose from his chair. "I'm going out for a walk."

"Are you going to finish breakfast first?" Atticus asked.

"Nah, I'm good." Jaden answered as he walked out of the room.

* * *

It was a little before noon as Sheila headed for the cafeteria to eat lunch. Not that she really had anyone to eat with though. Sophie was one of the few people that Sheila really knew at the academy. And with her gone, Sheila felt a little bit isolated. While Sheila had no trouble making new friends, it sort of seemed to her like quite a few of the students treated her like an outsider for some reason. Besides Sophie and Mick, Sheila didn't really have any friends at the academy.

"Excuse me. Sheila Tate?" A voice spoke from behind, causing Sheila to turn around. "Might I have a word with you?"

Standing behind Sheila was a female academy student who looked to be about seventeen. She had long silky black hair that ended half way down her back, skin like porcelain, and stunning violet eyes. Sheila recognized the young woman right away and was stunned that she was even talking to her.

"You're… Tabitha Greene." Sheila identified. "You're like one of the top students currently at this school. I've watched almost every single duel you've been in."

"Well, I see you're a fan." Tabitha observed. "I've had my eye on you for awhile too, Sheila."

"You have?" a surprised Sheila asked.

"Oh yes. In fact I've been looking for someone like you for a long time now." Tabitha revealed. "I've come to make you an offer, Sheila. Recently I've started a little club for the top lady duelists at this school. And I think you would be a perfect fit for it."

"Me?" Sheila responded, becoming even more surprised. "You seriously want me to join this club of yours?"

"Of course." Tabitha confirmed. "So what do you say, Sheila? Are you interested?"

"You bet!" Sheila enthusiastically agreed. "Wow! Tabitha Greene is asking me to join her secret club!"

"There is a small initiation ritual you'll have to go through. But I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle." Tabitha informed her. "Come to the abandoned dorm tonight at midnight. We'll be waiting for you."

"I'll be there." Sheila agreed.

Tabitha gave Sheila a wink before walking off. Sheila continued on her way to the cafeteria with a slight spring in her step. She was thrilled that one of the most popular students at the academy had asked her to join the special club that she had started. It seemed to Sheila that she was finally starting to be accepted by her fellow students.

* * *

Jaden rested under the shade of a tree on the academy grounds trying to catch up on his sleep. As he finally began to doze off, Jaden could hear footsteps coming in his direction. But he brushed it off as just some academy student or teacher that was passing by and kept his eyes shut.

"Well this is something I haven't seen in a long time." A very familiar voice spoke. Jaden opened his eyes to see Alexis standing over him.

"Uh, Lex!" a startled Jaden exclaimed as he quickly sat up. "What, um… what 're you doing here?"

"Actually I was looking for you." Alexis revealed. "Mind if I join you?"

"No, of course not." Jaden replied, his face turning a bit red.

Alexis sat down under the tree right next to Jaden. Jaden's heart began to beat a little faster when Alexis' hand brushed against his.

"You look pretty tired." Alexis observed. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I just didn't get very much sleep last night." Jaden explained.

"How come?" Alexis asked.

"Ask your brother and Reggie." Jaden answered.

Alexis shuddered a bit at what Jaden had implied. "You know, I think I'd rather not."

"…So why were you looking for me?" Jaden asked after a brief pause.

"Well, for one thing I wanted to apologize for what happened a few days ago when we talked." Alexis explained. "I'm sorry I got mad at you, and for not keeping in touch. This job I've had here has kept me really busy."

"I'm sorry for not keeping in touch with you either." Jaden told her. "I mean I thought about trying to get a hold of you more than once, but I never got around to it."

"I'm sure you've been a little busy yourself out on the road." Alexis pointed out. "Let's just forget about it, okay?"

"Yeah… okay." Jaden replied. "So Lex… when you said before when you and I had grown apart, what did you mean?"

"Well…" Alexis somewhat hesitantly began.

"Hey Jaden!" a familiar voice interrupted. Jaden and Alexis looked to see Sheila running towards them. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I got something I want to tell you about."

"Oh… hi Sheila." Jaden greeted.

Sheila soon noticed that Alexis was also present. "Oh… crud. Is this a bad time?"

"It's fine." Alexis assured her as she suddenly got to her feet. "I should probably be going now anyway. We'll talk more later, okay Jaden?"

"Yeah… okay." Jaden agreed. With that, Alexis walked off across the grounds.

"Oh boy. I really interrupted something big, didn't I?" Sheila realized. "My mom's told me more than once that I have the worst sense of timing."

"Don't worry about it." Jaden told her. "So what's this thing you wanted to tell me about?"

"Well I just wanted to tell you that I was invited to join this little club here at this academy." Sheila explained. "It's run by one of the top students. Her name's Tabitha Greene."

"What kind of club is it?" Jaden asked.

"Actually, I don't really know." Sheila admitted. "Heck, I don't even know what the name of it is. But who cares? The point is that Tabitha Greene asked me to join it!"

"You must be a big fan of this Tabitha." Jaden observed.

"Actually to tell you the truth, she's kind of been my idol ever since I started coming here." Sheila admitted. "She's just one of the best duelists there is. She's even better than Mick was. And she's always so cool and confident. I wish I was half the person she was."

"If she's that good a duelist, maybe I should try taking her on." Jaden decided. "So do you even know where and when this club of Tabitha's is meeting?"

"Well… I don't know if I'll be kicked out for telling you this, but the next meeting is going to be tonight at midnight at the abandoned dorm here." Sheila revealed.

"An abandoned dorm?" Jaden repeated.

"Yeah. The way I heard it, the place was closed down because of some building code violation." Sheila explained. "Or because someone died there, I don't remember. But either way, I'm going. Anyway, I just wanted to tell somebody about this. Since Sophie, well… vanished, I haven't really had anyone else to talk to."

"Well, it does sound like exciting news." Jaden agreed. "Have fun tonight, and be careful."

"I will. Later!" Sheila replied before running off.

"Didn't that seem a little suspicious to you?" Yubel asked as she appeared. "I think it's a pretty safe bet that Mick, Trent, and Reggie weren't the only ones brainwashed by whatever we're up against. How do we know this girl Tabitha isn't like them?"

"You might be onto something." Jaden agreed as he finally got to his feet. "You think this Tabitha is going to try and turn Sheila into a Sacrifice Maiden card?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." Yubel answered.

"Then maybe we should go back to the guesthouse and tell Atticus and Reggie about this." Jaden decided. "If there really is something going on with this club, then might need their help."

"Let's just hope we don't walk in on those two doing it on the couch or something." Yubel remarked as they headed off.

* * *

It was a few minutes before midnight as Sheila walked off across the grounds. Practically the entire academy had gone dark. All she had to guide her was the light of the moon and the stars above. Very soon in the distance she saw the old two-story building that was the old abandoned dorm that had closed down in the earliest days of Duel Academy America. There were many theories among the students as to why the dorm had closed down.

One of the most common stories was that the place had been shut down due to a simple building code violation that made the place unsafe. Though there were more unsavory tales that said that the reason was because a student had once died there. Some said that it was an accident, while others said that it was murder. But nobody could say for sure, as it was all just rumor. Then there were some of the more mundane explanations for the dorm's closing, such as the building having a funny smell that nobody could find a way to get rid of.

Whatever the true cause of the dorm's closing, the old building had been the source of rumor and legend to the students at Duel Academy America for years. And now it seemed that the place had become the headquarters of the mysterious club that Tabitha had started. As Sheila got closer to the old dorm, she could see dim lights shining through the windows. Somewhat nervously, Sheila knocked on the door. Moments later it opened, and standing in the doorway was Tabitha wearing a low-cut black dress with a very short skirt.

"There you are, Sheila." Tabitha greeted. "We've been waiting for you."

"I'm not too late, am I?" Sheila asked.

"Not at all." Tabitha replied. "Please come in."

Tabitha stepped aside to allow Sheila to enter. As soon as she stepped inside the old abandoned building, Sheila saw that the main room had lit candles all around, explaining the dim light she saw from the windows. Sheila also noticed some other female academy students inside. Many of them were wearing some kind of black hooded robes. Shelia glanced to one corner of the room and saw two girls sitting on an old red couch sharing an open-mouthed kiss. Looking towards another corner of the room, Sheila saw another pair of girls. One had the other pinned against the wall as she sucked on her neck.

"Uh, what kind of club did you say this was?" Sheila asked as her face turned a bit red.

"We're known as the Divine Order of Zott." Tabitha explained. "And truth be told, I'm not the one who started this little club."

Sheila felt that the name Zott sounded familiar to her, but for some reason she couldn't quite place it. There was some kind of aroma hanging in the air that was making it a little hard to think. It was almost like the smell of the ocean mixed with flowers.

"Do you smell something?" Sheila asked Tabitha.

"What you're smelling is the candles we have lit throughout the building." Tabitha explained. "The scent helps to put people at ease and relieve stress. It's also a very potent aphrodisiac."

"Did… did you just say…?" Sheila attempted to ask.

"You seem tense." Tabitha observed before Sheila could finish. "Are you nervous about joining our order?"

"Well… maybe a little." Sheila admitted.

"Come. There's something I want to show you." Tabitha informed her.

Tabitha gently took Sheila by the hand and led her up the stairs. At the top, they stopped before the open door of one of the abandoned rooms. What Sheila saw inside the room made her jaw drop. On top of what was a very sturdy wooden table were two young women who were completely nude. One of them had short blonde hair tied with pigtails, while the other had long light-green hair tied in a ponytail. Their legs were wrapped around one another and they bucked their hips bucked against each other.

More candles lined the walls of the abandoned room, and sitting on their knees on the floor were four more young women wearing the same black hooded robes that Sheila had seen before. They all seemed to be chanting in some kind of strange language. Sheila found that she couldn't look away from the sight of the two moaning girls on the table. The bouncing of their breasts as they moved against one another seemed to mesmerize her. Both Sheila and Tabitha stood in the doorway and watched for some time until the two girls on the table finally climaxed and collapsed from exhaustion. With the little show over, Tabitha quietly shut the door.

"Wow… that was… pretty hot." Sheila admitted.

Tabitha smiled and began to rub her fingers through Sheila's red hair from behind. "You have such pretty hair Sheila. It's one of the reasons why I've had my eye on you."

"Oh… well thanks." Sheila replied.

Suddenly Tabitha's hands reached from under Sheila's arms and cupped her breasts. "And such a well-developed bust for a girl your age."

"Well, what can I say? Good genes I guess." Sheila replied with a nervous laugh. "People say I get my looks from my mom. Except for my eyes. Those I got from my dad."

Tabitha turned Sheila around and looked at her with a predatory smile. "And what beautiful eyes they are."

Sheila suddenly found herself getting lost in Tabitha's stunning violet eyes. Suddenly Tabitha captured Sheila's lips and gently inserted her tongue, causing the redheaded to moan. The feeling of Tabitha's tongue inside her mouth felt simply amazing. After a few moments they broke for air and Sheila was left reeling from the kiss.

"Did you like that?" Tabitha asked.

"Uh-huh." Sheila answered.

"If you want, we can continue this down in the basement." Tabitha offered. "Would you like that?"

"Yes." Sheila agreed.

"Good." Tabitha replied before snapping her fingers. Four more girls in black robes arrived at the top of the stairs. "Take her down to the basement and prepare her. I'll be down shortly."

Sheila willingly let the other four girls guide her down the stairs. As they walked, Sheila was trying to process what was happening, but was finding it very difficult. One thing Sheila knew was that she was very turned on by what was happening. She had always been a bit curious about the kinds of activities the young ladies in the abandoned dorm were engaging in. There were a few girls that Sheila found attractive, with Tabitha being near the top of the list. But she had never had the nerve to take things as far as they had already progressed. Though it was obvious that Tabitha was not nearly that shy.

Within moments, Sheila's four escorts had taken her to a large chamber beneath the building. In the center of the room was some kind of metal slab on a vertical incline. It looked like some kind of medieval torture rack. On the far wall was some kind of large altar with lit candles on top. Drawn on the wall above the altar in what looked like chalk was some kind of strange almost star-shaped symbol with a demonic eye in the center. Sheila felt that she had seen the symbol somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where.

The four hooded young women stopped Sheila before the metal slab in the center of the room and began taking off her uniform. Deciding to go with the flow largely in part due to her extremely relaxed state, Sheila willingly let the four disrobe her completely. Once they had gotten her completely naked, the four gently pushed Sheila up against the metal slab and raised her arms above her head. They then secured her wrists into metal shackles near the top of the slab. Sheila could feel the cold metal pressing against her wrists.

As soon as Sheila had been secured in place, Tabitha entered the room wearing a long red robe that trailed behind her. Tabitha gave Sheila's four escorts a nod, and the four of them walked out of Sheila's field of vision. Sheila wasn't sure if the four had actually left the room, but for some reason she found she didn't care.

Tabitha stood before the restrained redhead and smiled. "My, you truly are ravishing. I'm really going to enjoy making you mine."

With that, Tabitha opened her robe and let it drop to the ground, revealing that she was wearing absolutely nothing underneath. Sheila's eyes widened at the sight of the dark-haired girl before her. Tabitha was simply breathtaking. With a predatory smile, Tabitha walked over and took Sheila's chin. They soon became locked in a deep open-mouthed kiss that caused Sheila to moan. Eventually they broke for air and Tabitha began to suck on Sheila's neck.

Before long, Tabitha moved down to kiss Sheila's collarbone, lingering there before moving down to kiss and suck on the redhead's right breast. At the same time, her hand moved to massage Sheila's left breast, gently squeezing it and sending the redhead to new heights of pleasure.

"Oh god! Just do it to me already!" Sheila begged.

Tabitha stopped sucking on Sheila's breast and chuckled. "My, aren't we eager."

Tabitha got down on her knees and pushed a very pliant Sheila's legs open. She leaned in and began to probe Sheila's already moist womanhood with her tongue. Sheila arched her back and moaned as Tabitha's tongue began to explore her. She attempted to move her arms down to hold the dark-haired girl's head in place, but the metal restraints made it impossible. She was completely at Tabitha's mercy.

Eventually Sheila felt herself on the verge of climax, but suddenly she felt Tabitha remove her tongue and pull away. The redhead looked at Tabitha with an almost hurt expression as Tabitha got to her feet.

"Oh don't worry, my precious. We're not stopping there." Tabitha assured her as she cupped Sheila's chin. "I just want to drag this out a little bit longer."

Tabitha recaptured Sheila's mouth and inserted her tongue. As they kissed, Tabitha reached down and inserted two of her fingers into the still very moist redhead. Sheila felt a painful sensation as the fingers tore into her, but seemed so faint compared to the incredible feeling of Tabitha's tongue inside her mouth. After a few moments, the pain stopped and the two girls broke for air. Tabitha began to push her fingers in and out of Sheila's opening, much to the redhead's delight.

"Please… harder!" Sheila begged.

Tabitha grinned an inserted a third finger into Sheila and probed deeper. Sheila moaned louder and continued to pull against her restraints. Before long her inner walls tightened around Tabitha's fingers. Then at last Sheila climaxed, her body shuddering with her long-awaited release. Exhausted by the pleasurable ordeal, Sheila was left in a daze.

Tabitha held out her left hand, and in moments one of the hooded girls from before came before her carrying a red satin pillow with a ceremonial dagger on it. Tabitha took the dagger and used it to make a small cut on Sheila's left thigh, gathering blood on the blade. Afterwards she walked over the altar against the far wall and held the blade over the large candle in the center.

"O Zott, ruler on the divine light." Tabitha spoke as drops of Sheila's blood hit the flame. "I call upon thy power to prepare this willing offering!"

As soon as the last drop of blood went into the flame, the flame turned white and expanded into a fireball. Tabitha moved to the side and a stream of white flames stuck Sheila on the metal slab, completely consuming her body. The flame quickly subsided, and hovering in place of where Sheila was a Sacrifice Maiden card with Sheila's picture on it. Tabitha raised her right arm towards the card and it flew to her hand.

With the new card in hand, Tabitha raised it to her mouth and kissed the front. "My precious Sheila. Now you truly are mine."

"So you finally created an offering. Nicely done." A voice suddenly spoke. Tabitha looked and saw Electra walk into the chamber.

"Leave us." Tabitha ordered her four hooded attendants.

As soon as one of the hooded girls handed Tabitha her red robe, all four of them silently left the chamber. Tabitha put on her robe back on as Electra walked up to her.

"You certainly took your time picking a girl to use as an offering." Electra remarked.

"I'm sorry if I've displeased you, mistress." Tabitha responded. "I wanted to find the perfect offering to use for myself."

"You don't need to apologize to me, my darling Tabitha." Electra assured her as she took the dark-haired girl's chin. "You've been doing a fine job for our order. The sexual energy created by all these servant girls you initiated has more than prepared us for Lord Zott's revival."

"And when will our master's revival happen, my mistress?" Tabitha asked.

"It won't be long now." Electra answered. "Tomorrow the stars will be right for his return. Very soon our master shall return and spread his light across the globe, beginning a glorious new age."

"I eagerly await that time." Tabitha responded.

"There is one problem though." Electra informed her. "Our enemy, the Supreme King has begun to make trouble for us. That is why I have come to you tonight. I want you to eliminate him for us."

"I will not let you down, my mistress." Tabitha replied.

"I know you won't." Electra told her before kissing her on the forehead. "The Supreme King is on his way here now. It's the perfect time for you to destroy him."

"Then I will meet him half way." Tabitha decided. "This will be the night that the Supreme King dies."

* * *

Jaden walked across the darkened academy ground with Reggie and Atticus following close behind. In the distance they could see the abandoned dorm that Sheila had told Jaden about earlier.

"Thanks for coming with, guys." Jaden told his two companions.

"No problem." Atticus replied. "I want to help take down whatever it is that twisted Mac's mind for so long. Besides, nothing good can come from students hanging out in an abandoned dorm in the middle of the night. I learned that the hard way."

"There's a whole bunch of old stories about that dorm." Reggie spoke as they walked. "Of course a lot of them are pretty much just rumors that have been blown out of proportion."

"You sure you're okay to do this, Mac?" Atticus asked.

"It's the least I can do to pay Jaden back for helping me." Reggie replied. "Besides, I want to take down this thing too."

"I just hope we're in time to save Sheila if she's in trouble." Jaden responded.

"You're right on time all right, Supreme King." A voice suddenly spoke. "On time for your demise that is."

Jaden and the others looked and saw Tabitha standing before them wearing her black dress. A silver duel disk with gold trim was on her left arm. Tabitha had not come alone though. At least twenty of her hooded servant girls had come with and quickly circled around Jaden and the others.

"Are you Tabitha Greene?" Jaden asked as he narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired girl.

"The very same." Tabitha confirmed. "And I have come to deliver your destruction in the name of our master."

"Who's this master of yours?" Jaden demanded to know. "And where's Sheila?"

"She's safe enough." Tabitha replied. "As for our master, we serve the divine being known to this world as Zott."

"Hail Zott, ruler of light, bringer of pleasure and chaos." The hooded girls around Jaden and the others began to chant.

"This is getting really creepy." Atticus remarked.

"Ruler of light? Bringer of chaos?" Yubel spoke as she appeared by Jaden. "From what these girls describe, this Zott sounds like the Light of Destruction."

Suddenly Jaden noticed the gold necklace that was around Tabitha's neck. Hanging from it was a small pendant shaped like a familiar almost star-shaped symbol with an odd demonic eye in the center.

"Hey! That necklace you have on has the same symbol I've seen on the building in the Domain of Rituals." Jaden recalled.

"Yes. This is the symbol of our order." Tabitha explained as she touched her pendant. "And it will also be the symbol of your destruction."

"We'll see about that!" Jaden told her.

"Indeed we will." Tabitha agreed as she activated her duel disk. "I challenge you to a duel here and now, Supreme King. And with this duel, I shall bring your death!"

Jaden activated his own duel disk in response. "Game on!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** The star-like symbol of Zott mentioned in this chapter and a few times before in this story is also the symbol depicted on the cover art for this story. It's just something I doodled in my little book of ideas while reinventing the concept for this story. I decided that I would make that symbol the crest of Zott.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. The Resurrection of Chakra

**Author's Note:** The Ritual Monster that appears in the following duel, or rather its Ritual Spell, served as one of the major inspirations for this story. It's actually become one of my favorite Ritual Monsters.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 9: The Resurrection of Chakra

"I'll start things off." Tabitha announced as she drew her first card. "To begin I play a Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

In an instant the surrounding area transformed into the grey wasteland that Jaden had become all too familiar with. Stormy dark-blue clouds once again covered the sky. In the distance Jaden and the others could see the ominous dark structure that bore the emblem of Zott.

"I set one card on the field." Tabitha announced. "Then I summon Sangan in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Tabitha's side of the battlefield was a relatively small ball of fur that was light brown on the front and black on the back. It had two skinny green arms with clawed hands. Its face consisted of three large yellow cat-like eyes and a large fanged mouth.

"That ends my turn." Tabitha announced.

Jaden drew his first card. "I activate Polymerization and fuse Elemental Hero Burstinatrix with Elemental Hero Bubbleman in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Steam Healer!"

Burstinatrix appeared on the field along with a male warrior clad in blue armor. He had on a white cape and a pair of large grey water tanks on his back. The pair of heroes jumped into the small vortex that had appeared in the air above the battlefield. Moments later a new warrior jumped down onto the field. He had on bulky purple and red mechanical armor with a helmet that had a red visor over his eyes. Long grey pipes projected out from the armored hero's back.

"I activate my Trap, War Ritual Preparation!" Tabitha announced. "Since you just special summoned a monster to the field, I can add a Ritual Monster and Spell card to my hand!"

"Yeah? Well next I summon Elemental Hero Wildheart!" Jaden announced. His jungle-themed hero appeared on the field. "Steam Healer, attack Sangan! Vapor Shot!"

Steam Healer fired intense blasts of super hot steam from the mechanical hands of his armor. The small three-eyed demon shattered into bits of light upon being hit.

"Whenever Steam Healer destroys a monster in battle, I gain life points equal to that monster's ATK!" Jaden announced.

Blasts of steam shot from the pipes on the armored hero's back and briefly shrouded Jaden in a gentle mist. His life points rose to 5000.

"Because Sangan was destroyed, I can add a monster with 1500 ATK or less to my hand." Tabitha calmly announced.

"I'm betting the card Tabitha just added to her hand is one of those Sacrifice Maiden cards." Atticus assumed as he and Reggie watched from the sidelines.

"She already has a Ritual Monster and Spell card in her hand thanks to that Trap of hers." Reggie pointed out. "I think it's pretty safe to say that she'll summon that monster on her next turn using that Sacrifice Maiden as a tribute."

"I just hope that Sacrifice Maiden isn't anyone we know." Atticus responded.

"Wildheart, attack Tabitha directly!" Jaden commanded back in the duel. "Wild Slash!"

Wildheart charged across the field with his sword raised and slashed Tabitha across the chest. Her life points dropped to 2500. Despite that, the dark-haired girl maintained her calm smile.

"I end my turn!" Jaden announced.

Tabitha drew her next card. "From my hand I activate Resurrection of Chakra! And as tribute for the Ritual I offer up… Sacrifice Maiden Sheila!"

To Jaden's horror, Sheila appeared on the battlefield wearing a Roman-style dress made of pink fabric. She looked as if she was in some kind of trance. Appearing beneath the redhead's feet was a strange mass of thin green tendrils. The tendrils quickly rose up and began to envelop Sheila's body. By the time they got up to her chest, the pink dress she had on shattered into bits of light. In moments the tendrils completely consumed Sheila and transformed into a strange fleshy mass the color of dried blood.

The mass of flesh soon rose into the air and began to change shape. The top half became a sort of torso with a single large purple eye on the top instead of a head. From the side of the torso grew four short stubby arms. The hind pair of arms had two large claws at the end, while the front pair had hands with three blue tentacle-like fingers. The lower half of the mass grew into a waist with a long blue spike projecting down from the bottom like the head of a spear. Growing down next to the spike on both sides were four bone-white blade-like spikes.

Growing out of the creature's midsection between two pairs of short white spikes was a human skull with thin strands of dark-red hair traveling up the thing's chest. To his horror, Jaden quickly realized that the skull belonged to Sheila. A pair of demonic eyes appeared in the sockets of the skull. Once the creature had fully formed, its body glowed briefly with a feint white aura and its three eyes flashed red.

"Beautiful!" Tabitha declared with a mad grin. "Behold, the magnificent Chakra! And thanks to the sacrifice of my beloved Sheila, my darling creature has gained incredible power!"

"Oh man… that's just sick!" a horrified Atticus declared.

"I've seen younger duelists use Chakra in battle before." An equally disgusted Reggie admitted. "Usually the skulls of whatever monsters are used to summon Chakra appear on its midsection. It never bothered me before, but… now that I've seen it happen with a human skull…"

"Sheila…" Jaden spoke as he clenched his right fist in rage. "How could you do that to her, Tabitha? She looked up to you and you use her for this! Why?"

"Because she was perfect." Tabitha responded with an insane look in her eye. "I've been searching for just the right offering to use for my darling Chakra, and dear Sheila was just the right one. Her looks were exactly right."

"Wait a minute…" Atticus spoke with a look of realization. "Now that I think about it, Sheila looks a lot like the girl shown on the illustration on the Resurrection of Chakra Spell card!"

"You picked Sheila just because she looked like the drawing on some card?" an outraged Jaden asked.

"Like I said, her looks were exactly right." Tabitha answered. "And thanks to dear Sheila's sacrifice, my darling Chakra now gains 1000 extra ATK for every card my opponent controls. And since you have two cards on the field, its ATK is now 4450."

"This is not good." Yubel observed as she appeared by Jaden. "Now that thing has the power as the Wicked Eraser did."

"Yeah. Only it's a little worse because Chakra had 2450 ATK to begin with." Jaden quietly responded.

"Attack, my darling Chakra!" Tabitha commanded. "Destroy Wildheart with Life Stealer Gaze!"

Chakra blasted Wildheart with an intense beam of red light fired from the large eye on the top of its body. Wildheart was struck and incinerated in a fiery explosion. Jaden's life points plummeted to 2050.

"Now that Wildheart's gone, Chakra's ATK drops down to 3450." Tabitha continued. "But the moment you play another card on the field, its ATK will rise back up."

"This is pretty bad." Atticus remarked. "Even Jaden setting a card on the field like a Spell or Trap will cause that thing to get stronger."

"The only way Jaden can beat Chakra in battle right now is if he played a monster with at least 3500 ATK and no other cards." Reggie observed. "Does he have anything that powerful?"

"One of his Fusions might be able to cut it." Atticus replied. "But it doesn't look like he even has the cards in his hand to summon one to the field. Let's just hope Jaden's next draw is a good one."

"I'll set one card on the field and end my turn." Tabitha announced. "Go ahead and play another card if you dare."

Jaden drew her next card and gritted his teeth. "I switch Steam Healer to Defense Mode and end my turn!"

"Seems you couldn't draw a card that could help you." Tabitha remarked. "Either that or you were too afraid to play another card on the field due to my darling Chakra's effect."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jaden told her.

"Fear is nothing to be ashamed of." Tabitha told him. "I understand how strong fear can be. I was afraid to be myself for a long time until I was freed by the order."

"What do you mean?" Jaden asked.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you." Tabitha began. "My late parents were very religious. From a young age I was taught that those who fornicated with people of their own gender were leading sinful lives. But one day I realized that I found that I was attracted to other girls. I felt so ashamed. Then one day about three months ago, Mistress Electra called me to her office…"

* * *

_Tabitha walked through the halls towards Electra's office. Gym class had only just ended moments ago and Tabitha had wanted to change back into her uniform. But her gym teacher had ordered her to go straight to the office. The whole way there, Tabitha wondered what it was that Electra wanted to see her about. She couldn't think of any reason why she would be in trouble. After a few moments, Tabitha arrived at the office and knocked on the door._

_"Come in." Electra's voice called from inside._

_Tabitha entered the office to see Electra sitting behind her desk. Her blazer was hanging from the back of her chair._

_"You wanted to see me, Ms. Darkling?" Tabitha asked as she stood before the desk._

_"Ah! Tabitha. Thank you for coming. I've been wanting to talk to you." Electra responded. "Please, have a seat."_

_Tabitha nodded and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. Electra got up and moved around to lean against the front of her desk. Tabitha found her eyes being drawn to Electra's large bust. It was clear that Electra wasn't wearing a bra underneath. She couldn't help but find Electra very attractive, but Tabitha quickly tried to push such thoughts from her mind. It was wrong for her to have such thoughts._

_"Now Tabitha, I want to make it clear that you're not here because you're in trouble." Electra assured her. "It's just that I've been noticing something wrong with your performance."_

_"What do you mean?" Tabitha asked, trying not to look at Electra's chest._

_"Well you're one of this academy's strongest duelist, but it seems that there's something holding you back." Electra explained. "I've been reading your file trying to figure out what that might be. You're parents are both dead, correct?"_

_"Yes ma'am." Tabitha confirmed. "They died in a car crash when I was thirteen."_

_"And in life, your father was a minister of some kind, correct?" Electra asked._

_"Yes ma'am." Tabitha repeated. "My mother was very active in the church as well. Ms. Darkling, what does this have to do with how I perform as a duelist?"_

_"A family atmosphere like that must've been very… inhibiting for a girl like you." Electra replied. "And I can see from looking at you right now that my suspicions were correct."_

_"Ma'am?" a confused Tabitha responded._

_"Oh come now, dear Tabitha. I've seen the way you've been trying to avoid looking at me." Electra revealed. "There's no shame in looking at something you like."_

_Suddenly Electra pulled off her red shirt, revealing her massive breasts. Tabitha's jaw dropped and her face turned bright red. It was one of the most stunning sights Tabitha had ever seen._

_"Uh, uh, M-Ms. Darkling?" a very flustered Tabitha spoke. "What… what're you…?"_

_Electra walked over and gently placed a finger over Tabitha's lips. "Just relax. I'm going to give you the pleasure that you've yearned to have for so long."_

_Electra bent down and gave Tabitha a very deep kiss on the lips. The older blunette inserted her tongue into the dark-haired girl's mouth. Tabitha was simply blown away by the sensation. She had never expected her first kiss to be this way. There was still a tiny voice of her that was telling her that what she and Electra were doing was wrong and against God, but she was finding it very hard to listen to that voice. Over time as their tongues continued to mingle, Tabitha finally felt herself starting to relax._

_After a few moments, Electra broke the kiss and pulled away so that Tabitha could catch her breath. With Tabitha still reeling from the kiss, Electra pulled off the younger girl's white gym shirt. Electra smirked upon seeing Tabitha's naked breasts._

_"You're a very pretty girl, Tabitha." Electra remarked as she went behind Tabitha's chair and began rubbing her shoulders._

_Any shred of ration thought that Tabitha had left was being torn away. The tiny voice that had been telling her that what she was doing was wrong had become a dull whisper. Before Tabitha knew it, Electra's hands moved down and began massaging her breasts. Tabitha gasped with pleasure and arched her back. The dull whisper had completely faded and she had become lost in pleasure._

_Before long Electra's right hand moved down and went under Tabitha's gym shorts and panties. Her fingers began massaging Tabitha's moist womanhood, sending her to new heights of ecstasy. The bluenette then pushed two fingers into Tabitha's opening. Tabitha felt a painful sensation tear into her, but it did not last long. Slowly Electra began to push her fingers in and out of the younger girl. Over time, Tabitha could feel her pleasure grow. Then after what seemed an eternity, Tabitha climaxed, her body shuddering with release._

_"Did you like that?" Electra whispered into Tabitha's ear. Tabitha was in such a daze that all she could do was nod. "You poor dear. It never ceases to amaze me how repressed the people of this age can be. People were far more liberated in my time. You've held your true desires in for far too long. I can help you to finally become free, Tabitha. Would you like that?"_

_Again, Tabitha nodded. Electra walked back around and stood before Tabitha. She pulled off her short black skirt and panties and leaned back against her desk. Tabitha's eyes widened upon seeing Electra's nude form. The sight of that bronze skin and dynamite figure was enough to make Tabitha's nose bleed._

_"Go ahead. Take me." Electra told her. "You know you want to."_

_Tabitha found that she couldn't hold herself back. She got up from her chair, and after removing her black gym shorts and panties she walked over to Electra. They shared a brief open-mouthed kiss before Tabitha moved down to suck on Electra's left breast. After lingering there for a few moments, Tabitha continued to move down until she was on her knees. With a little bit of hesitation, Tabitha moved her head in and began to probe Electra's opening with her tongue._

_Electra moaned and held Tabitha's head in place. Tabitha felt herself getting lost in what she was doing. It all felt so right, what she and Electra had been doing. Before long, Electra began bucking her hips. It was clear that she was coming close. Then at last Electra climaxed into Tabitha's mouth. Tabitha pulled back and remained on her knees._

_Electra smiled and began stroking Tabitha's hair. "You were very good, my dear Tabitha. But I know there's still a fire within you just waiting to come out."_

_With that, Electra got up and walked over to a corner of the office. Tabitha watched as the older woman got down onto the floor on her back._

_"Well? What are you waiting for?" Electra asked. "I'm all yours."_

_Tabitha's instincts had completely taken her over. She quickly went over to where Electra was lying down and got onto her knees. Taking Electra's leg in hand, Tabitha moved her hips so that their two openings were pressing together. Tabitha began to buck her hips hard into the tan blunette beneath her. She became almost mesmerized by the way Electra's large breasts bounced up and down with her movements. Overtime their bodies became covered in sweat. Then in almost the exact same moment they climaxed._

_Exhausted, Tabitha collapsed onto her back. Her mind was trying to process what had just happened to her. Meanwhile Electra chuckled and moved so that she was on top of Tabitha._

_"I was right. You do have a very strong spirit." Electra told her. "It just needed the right coaxing to bring it out. I can use someone like you in my order."_

_With that, the tip of Electra's right index finger began to glow with a strange white light. She touched the finger to Tabitha's forehead, and Tabitha felt a strange sensation rush through her. Every last inhibition that remained in the dark-haired girl was shattered._

_"Serve me. Serve my lord, Zott." Electra told her. "And together we will create a new world where you can finally be free to have the pleasure that you've denied yourself for so long. Pleasure that you can explore without consequence."_

_Tabitha's lips curled into a smile. "I rule at the will of Lord Zott."_

* * *

"…On that day, I was reborn." Tabitha continued in the present. "With Mistress Electra's guidance I gathered the legion of followers you now see before you. Since then we have been working to prepare for the revival of Lord Zott and the glorious new age he shall begin."

"Hail Zott, ruler of light, bringer of pleasure and chaos." Tabitha's hooded followers began to chant again. "Hail Zott, ruler of light, bringer of pleasure and chaos."

Jaden and Atticus were left stunned by Tabitha's tale. Yubel meanwhile remained calm. Reggie on the other hand seemed very unsettled by the story.

Atticus quickly noticed Reggie's reaction. "Mac, you okay?"

"That… that woman…" Reggie spoke. "She's the reason why… daddy…"

"It looks like that slutty assistant principle has been behind everything this whole time." Yubel observed.

"I should've figured it out sooner, the way Electra seemed to hate me." Jaden quietly replied. "But then does this mean that Electra and this Zott are somehow connected to the Light of Destruction?"

"One thing's for sure. Electra certainly is a piece of work." Yubel pointed out. "She brainwashed this girl by playing on her repressed desires and seducing her. In a way, she's just as much a victim as those girls who've been turned into cards."

Jaden nodded and turned his attention back to his opponent. "Tabitha! I think I get where you're coming from, but you don't need to help Electra in order to be who you are!"

"As if you know anything!" Tabitha scoffed. "I've finally free to be my true self thanks to Mistress Electra and Lord Zott! And soon the rest of the world will be as well. Now then, I equip my darling Chakra with the Spell known as Amulet of Forbidden Magic!"

Appearing on Chakra's chest was a large cut blue gem framed in gold. The demon began to glow with a red aura as soon as the gem appeared.

"Each time a Ritual Monster equipped with Amulet of Forbidden Magic destroys a monster in battle, it inflicts damage equal to the destroyed monster's DEF." Tabitha revealed. "Now, my darling Chakra! Destroy Steam Healer with Life Taker Gaze!"

Chakra fired a massive beam of red energy from its large eye. The beam hit Jaden's armored hero and caused him to explode. The force of the blast not only reduced Jaden's life points to 1050, it also knocked him to the ground. Jaden hit the back of his head on a small rock and suddenly everything went dark.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So the Ritual Monster known as Chakra and the card that summons it are real cards that date back to the oldest time of the card game. And it was these two cards that served as one of the major inspirations for this story. The Ritual Spell known as Resurrection of Chakra depicts a young woman (implied to be nude in the original Japanese artwork) being consumed by a mass of green tendrils. I first saw the card in one of the old Yu-Gi-Oh! video games made for the Gameboy Advance, and for a long time I was trying to figure out just what was being depicted in the illustration of this Spell card. After studying both the Spell card and Charkra closely and discussing the cards with some friends, I came to the conclusion that the young woman depicted in the Spell card is an example of what happens to the monsters sacrificed to resurrect Chakra.

It's because of the sheer oddity of that Spell card that Chakra is now one of my favorite Ritual Monsters next to the original Black Luster Soldier, Dark Master-Zorc, and Relinquished. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to do a Yu-Gi-Oh! related story that showed how Resurrection of Chakra might work if depicted in the anime or manga, Thus the concept for Ritual of Doom was born. Of course Chakra itself didn't seem big enough to base the entire story on. But I decided that it would at least play a fairly big role in one of the duels. Also, the rather suggestive original artwork for Resurrection of Chakra is kind of one of the reasons why this story has so many steam scenes in it. It's not exactly a card one would expect to find in a children's card game.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. Rite of the Primal Flame

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 10: Rite of the Primal Flame

_Jaden awoke and found that he was lying in a vast expanse of darkness all around him. It took him a moment to recall how he had been knocked out while dueling Tabitha. But as to where he was or how he had gotten there, Jaden couldn't say. Slowly Jaden got back to his feet. The back of his head throbbed as he stood up. Jaden quickly found that the darkness was even beneath his feet._

_"Where am I?" Jaden wondered._

_"Jaden?" a familiar voice responded. Jaden turned around and saw Yubel's glowing orange and teal eyes behind him._

_"Yubel, do you know where we are?" Jaden asked._

_"Not a clue." Yubel replied. "Are you okay?"_

_"I think so." Jaden answered. "But what I want to know right now is how we ended up here."_

_Suddenly a large ball of red flames flared to life beside Jaden and Yubel, finally giving light to the darkness. The ball of flames looked very much like a star. Soon Jaden and Yubel noticed a familiar white figure standing and gazing at the ball of fire with his arms crossed._

_"Neos?" a surprised Jaden identified. "What're you doing here? What is all this?"_

_"The darkness you see around us is the darkness where life began." Neos explained, not once taking his green eyes of the ball of flames. "This ball that's giving light to the darkness is the Primal Flame, the first star to burn in Neo Space."_

_"And you're showing us this because…" Yubel began to ask._

_"In ancient times, the power of this star was called upon to destroy a great and terrible evil." Neos explained. "It is that very same evil that we now face."_

_"Are you talking about whatever it is that's causing problems at Duel Academy America?" Jaden asked. "I thought that was the Light of Destruction."_

_"Evil takes many forms, as does the Light." Neos pointed out. "To defeat this form, I believe we will need the power of the Primal Flame once more."_

_"But how do I use this power?" Jaden asked._

_"The Primal Flame is a power that is fueled by the heart and answers to an indomitable will." Neos answered. "Jaden, you wish to save your friend Sheila, correct?"_

_"Not just Sheila." Jaden admitted. "I also want to save Tabitha from herself."_

_"I am at your service whenever you need me, my king." Neos responded. "Use me to call upon the flame, and together we can save them both."_

_"You got it." Jaden replied as a smile came to his face._

* * *

Jaden's eyes snapped back open and he found that he was back in the duel. The cloudy sky of the Domain of Rituals was above him. Jaden got back to his feet and saw Tabitha still standing on the other side of the battlefield with Chakra.

"So you're still alive." Tabitha observed. "I'm actually a bit glad. It would've been disappointing to end things like that."

"Tabitha… this has to stop." Jaden told her. "You don't have to serve some evil god just to be who you are."

"You know nothing!" Tabitha argued. "Now then, because you no longer have any cards on the field, my darling Chakra's ATK has returned to 2450. But the moment you play even a single card, it will rise back up. With that, I end my turn."

"Looks like there's no talking to you while you're like this." Jaden observed. "So I'm going to knock you back to your senses by winning this duel!"

With that, Jaden's eyes flashed gold before they began to glow with the orange and teal colors of Yubel's eyes. As Jaden drew his next card, that card burned with a flash of red flames.

"I activate the Spell, Fake Hero and summon Elemental Hero Neos!" Jaden announced. The white hero of space materialized on the battlefield. "Next I play the Spell card, Primal Awakening! Since Neos is on the field, I can add a certain pair of cards to my hand!" Jaden took two more flaming cards from his deck. "And now I activate one of the two cards I just added to my hand! The Ritual Spell card, Rite of the Primal Flame!"

"What?" a surprised Tabitha exclaimed.

Two ornate golden torches appeared on Neos' left and right sides. The heads of both torches bore the symbol that was on Neos' chest. A red circle lined with strange ancient text then appeared on the ground around the hero's feet.

"So Jaden has a Ritual Monster too?" a surprised Reggie asked from the sidelines.

"This is the first I've heard of it." Atticus replied.

"Normally I'd have to offer up monsters who's total levels added up to eight or more to perform this Ritual." Jaden continued. "But Rite of the Primal Flame also lets me use Elemental Hero Neos as the entire tribute. So I now sacrifice Neos in order to transform him into… Primal Neos!"

Two small red fireballs shot from the torch flames into the gem on Neos' chest. A pillar of red flames shot up from the ground inside the circle and completely engulfed the white hero of space. In moments the flames subsided and the torches used for the ritual vanished. Much of Neos' body had turned light blue. The only parts that had remained white were the front of his neck and the curved horn on his head, and the undersides of his shoulder pads. The red lines on the front of the hero's torso and legs had taken on a more curved appearance.

Grey spikes had grown on Neos' shoulders and he had wide bronze-colored bracelets on his wrists. Hanging down around his waist like a skirt was a tattered brown piece of cloth. With the cloth was a grey belt that had a golden buckle in the shape of a human skull with horns. On his feet, Neos now wore a pair of knee-high boots lined with brown fur. The gem in the center of Neos' chest had turned pinkish-red and had taken on a heart shape. Five red markings in the shape of flames adorned the warrior's chest around them gem, and he had four more flame-shaped markings on his arms. Long orange hair had grown down from the back of Neos' head, and his face had taken on a mask-like appearance with a mouth lined with flat white teeth.

"A Neos Ritual Monster?" a surprised Atticus observed.

"This is Neos' ancestral form that's been revived by the power of the Primal Flame." Jaden explained. "The first hero of Neo Space!"

Tabitha chuckled a bit after getting over her initial shock. "I'll admit that your ancient hero looks quite formidable. But he only has 2800 ATK. And because you now have a card on the field, my darling Chakra's ATK has gone back up to 3450. There's no way Neos can beat it."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jaden told her. "Whenever Primal Neos attacks a monster that has higher ATK, he gains 1000 extra ATK during that battle!"

"But… that means…" Tabitha spoke as her eyes widened in shock.

"Neos, let's take Chakra out!" Jaden commanded. "Primal Wrath!"

Neos roared and leapt high into the air with his fist raised. His fist began to burn with red flames as he came down and punched Chakra in the chest. The demon shattered apart into bits of light and Tabitha's life points dropped to 2150.

"Because the monster Primal Neos destroyed was a Dark attribute monster, I get to draw one more card!" Jaden announced.

"Damn… you!" an enraged Tabitha cursed. "I'll make you pay for that! I activate my Trap, Ritual Revenge!"

Suddenly a column of blue light burst up from the ground. The light faded and Chakra had reappeared at twice its original size. Tabitha began laughing madly.

"What the hell?" a stunned Atticus exclaimed.

"Because my darling Chakra was destroyed in battle, Ritual Revenge has now brought it back with twice its original ATK!" Tabitha explained with a mad grin.

"Which means now that thing has almost 5000 ATK!" Atticus realized.

"At least Chakra lost the effect it gained from Sheila's card because it was sent to the Graveyard." Reggie pointed out. "But then again I don't see how Jaden can take down a monster that strong."

"Let's see your ancient hero come back from this upset!" Tabitha told Jaden.

"I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn." Jaden calmly announced.

Tabitha chuckled as she drew her next card. "Prepare for the end, Supreme King! Chakra, destroy Primal Neos with Life Stealer Gaze!"

"I activate my Trap, Negate Attack!" Jaden quickly announced.

The large demon fired another massive red beam from its eye. But just as it was about to strike Neos, a vortex appeared in front of him and sucked the entire beam in.

"So you managed to extend your life a little longer." Tabitha observed. "I'll end my turn here. But as soon as your next turn ends, I'll finally bring your demise!"

"Wrong, Tabitha. On my next turn, I'm going to save you from yourself!" Jaden declared.

"I don't need saving." Tabitha told him. "I've finally become my true self! And soon I and my followers will usher in the glorious new era of light that is to come!"

"No, Tabitha. Electra's only using you and your followers for her own twisted plans." Jaden argued.

"You know nothing of the mistress!" Tabitha insisted. "You are only an enemy that stands in the way of Lord Zott's revival! And soon you will finally be destroyed!"

"Guess again, because I'm ending this duel now!" Jaden declared as he drew his next card. "I equip Primal Neos with Sword of the Supreme King!"

The black sword that Jaden had used to defeat Reggie fell from the sky and drove itself into the ground. Primal Neos drew the sword from the earth and gave it one swing with his muscular arm. The ancient warrior began to give off a black aura and his eyes began to glow gold.

"When Neos attacks a monster with higher ATK using the sword, that monster loses 2000 ATK during the battle!" Jaden continued.

"But even with that sword's effect, Chakra will still have 2900 ATK." Reggie pointed out on the sidelines.

"Yeah, but Primal Neos will still gain 1000 extra ATK from his own effect." Atticus pointed out. "Which means Jaden's got this."

"Neos! Take down Chakra and end this!" Jaden commanded. "Wrath of the King!"

Noes roared and swung the blade with both arms, sending a massive blade of black energy across the field. Chakra was struck by the massive blast and was cut down the middle. The two halves of the demon quickly disintegrated into nothing. The attack kept going and struck Tabitha, knocking her onto her back. Her life points dropped down to 1250.

"I activate another effect of Sword of the Supreme King!" Jaden announced. "By sending the sword to the Graveyard, Primal Neos can make a second attack this turn! Neos, attack Tabitha directly! King's Sword Throw!"

As soon as Tabitha got back to her feet, Neos threw his black sword and impaled her through the chest. Tabitha screamed and her remaining life points dropped to zero. With the end of the duel came a massive explosion of white light that emanated from Tabitha and washed out the entire area. The light quickly faded and the area had returned to normal. Tabitha was on the ground unconscious, as were her followers.

With the duel finally at its end, Jaden's eyes returned to their normal brown. Suddenly he noticed an unconscious Sheila lying in the middle of the field wearing the same pink dress she had on in her Duel Monster form. Immediately, Jaden rushed to side.

"Is she okay?" Atticus asked as Jaden kneeled down beside the unconscious redhead.

"Yeah, I think she's just knocked out." Jaden answered. "You and Mac check on Tabitha's followers."

As Atticus and Reggie went to work checking on Tabitha's hooded followers, a dazed Tabitha suddenly woke up and rose to her feet. "What's going on? What have I been doing?"

"You okay, Tabitha?" Jaden asked.

"Who… who are you?" Tabitha responded.

"Looks like she doesn't remember much of what she did while she was brainwashed, just like Reggie." Yubel observed as she reappeared.

"That's… Sheila Tate." Tabitha noticed upon glancing down at the unconscious redhead. "Is she okay?"

"She should be fine." Jaden assured her.

Tabitha's expression saddened as she came over and knelt at Sheila's side. "I feel like I've done something terrible to her."

"Look, don't worry about it." Jaden told her. "You weren't really yourself at the time."

Before Tabitha could respond, Sheila began to stir. Slowly the redhead opened her eyes and managed to sit up.

"You okay, Sheila?" a concerned Jaden asked.

"Jaden?" a somewhat groggy Sheila responded. "What's going on? What happened?"

"It's a long story." Jaden replied. "But you're fine, right?"

"I think so." Sheila answered. "Some of the night's kind of a blur."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jaden asked.

Sheila paused and turned to look at Tabitha. The redhead's lips curved into a smirk and she suddenly gave Tabitha a hard kiss on the lips, surprising both Tabitha and Jaden.

After a moment, Sheila pulled away and smiled. "You silly girl. If you were really that interested in me, all you had to do was say so. You didn't have to go to all that trouble."

"I-I, uh, I…" a very flustered Tabitha responded as her face turned bright red.

Sheila captured Tabitha in another kiss and pushed her onto her back. After a moment, Tabitha relaxed into the kiss and closed her eyes as she began running her fingers through Sheila's long red hair.

"Uh…" a wide-eyed Jaden spoke, getting Sheila and Tabitha's attention.

"Oh, sorry Jaden. Kinda forgot you were there." Sheila admitted.

"No… that's fine." Jaden replied. "But maybe the two of you should take that to somewhere a little more private?"

"Good idea." Sheila agreed as she got up and pulled Tabitha to her feet. "Hey Tabitha, mind staying the night in my room?"

"I, um… I guess not." Tabitha replied.

"Good. Maybe this time I can tie you down." Sheila suggested with a sly grin as she led Tabitha by the hand.

"O-okay." Tabitha somewhat reluctantly agreed as they walked off.

"Looks like they're in for a fun night." Yubel chuckled.

"Hey Jaden!" Atticus called, getting his attention. "Looks like Tabitha's followers are just knocked out too. We should probably get them to the infirmary though."

"Good idea." Jaden agreed as he rose back to his feet. "Well, it looks like I was actually able to save someone this time."

"They won't be safe for long, Jaden Yuki!" a familiar voice interrupted.

Jaden and the others looked and saw Electra standing just a few feet away. The blunette's expression seemed calm, though her golden eyes were filled with a murderous rage.

"Electra!" Jaden responded as his eyes flashed gold before turning orange and teal again. "You've got a hell of a lot to answer for!"

"As do you, Supreme King!" Electra told him. "My grudge with you goes back a long ways!"

"I don't know what your problem is with me, but I'm going to take you down!" Jaden declared.

"I'm afraid it's already too late for you to win." Electra told him as a small smile came to her face. "Tomorrow the stars will finally be right for Lord Zott's revival! All that's left is to prepare the ultimate sacrifice."

"What does that mean?" Jaden demanded to know.

"You'll find out soon enough." Electra answered as her smile widened into a grin. "Our time of reckoning is finally at hand, Supreme King. Until then, I shall take my leave."

With that, Electra vanished in a flash of white light. With Electra gone, Jaden relaxed and his eyes turned back to their normal brown.

"What the heck was all that about?" Atticus wondered.

"Not sure." Jaden answered. "But I get the feeling that whatever's going on is going to be settled tomorrow."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I don't quite recall how the idea first came to me, but somewhere along the line while I was planing the original version of this story I decided that Jaden should use a Ritual Monster of his own. The idea behind Primal Neos was to create a counterpart to Yugi's Magician of Black Chaos. Primal Neos even has the same level and ATK. A little of the inspiration behind Primal Neos and a few parts of this story came a little bit from the movies, _Conan the Barbarian_ (Original) and _Conan the Destroyer_. Both terrible movies in my opinion, though I like the soundtrack of the first film and the second one had a cheesy monster to enjoy. Anyway, I wanted Primal Neos to have a sort of atavistic appearance, and as a result much of his form ended up being heavily based upon the hollow form of Ichigo Kurosaki from _Bleach_.

I actually ended up doing a drawing of Primal Neos while planning the original story. Those who wish to see it can find it on the otaku .com.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	11. The Wicked Priestess

**Author's Note:** I currently have a poll going on my profile page here on this site. The poll is to help me come up with a decision about a future GX story that I may or may not do. So if anyone reading wouldn't mind taking a quick look at the poll and casting a vote, I'd greatly appreciate it (poll will be active until August 11th, 2014).

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 11: The Wicked Priestess

Tabitha's hooded followers had woken up soon after Electra had left the scene. Other than not remembering how they had wound up outside in the dead of night wearing strange robe, the young women all seemed to be unharmed. Thus Jaden and his companions had decided to let them go back to their dorms. Jaden and the others headed back to the guesthouse, and during the whole trip back Jaden and Atticus had noticed that Reggie seemed troubled by something. As soon as they had gotten back to the house, the three of them went into the living room so they could sit down and talk.

"Mac, there's something obviously bothering you." Atticus observed as he sat next to Reggie on the couch. "It's all over your face."

"Did something happen during the duel that upset you?" Jaden asked Reggie.

"I… I remember what happened to me before." Reggie hesitantly began. "I remember how I was brainwashed. It all seemed to come back to me after Tabitha told her little story about how… how that woman seduced her."

"So what happened to you?" Jaden asked.

"Oh come one Jaden, do we really have to get into this?" Atticus asked.

"I know this probably isn't something Reggie wants to talk about, but hearing about it might help us figure out what's going on here." Jaden pointed out.

"It's okay, Rhodie. Jaden might be onto something." Reggie agreed. "Besides… maybe it would help a little to talk about it."

"So what happened, Mac?" Jaden asked again.

"…It was a pretty long time ago." Reggie began after taking a deep breath. "I don't think I was any older than six or seven. I had come here to the academy to visit my dad…"

* * *

_A young Reggie skipped down the halls towards her father's office. By the time she got there, she saw that the door was open a crack and that a strange white light coming from inside the room. Reggie could tell that something was wrong. But her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly went towards the door. Peeking inside, Reggie saw Electra standing before Principle Mackenzie's desk wearing a white trench coat. Her right arm was outstretched and a beam of white light was flowing into her hand into Principle Mackenzie's chest. In moments the beam of light stopped and Principle Mackenzie passed out in his chair._

_Reggie backed away from the door in horror. "Daddy…"_

_Suddenly the door opened all the way and Reggie saw Electra straight at her. The pupils of the bluenette's golden eyes had become like slits._

_"Oh you naughty girl." Electra spoke with a sinister grin. "Seems your father didn't teach you that it's not nice to spy on people. Of course while I'm sure that no one will believe the story of a little child like you, I'm not comfortable with taking any risks of my little secret getting out into the open."_

_"Please… don't hurt me!" Reggie begged as she continued to back away._

_"Don't worry. I have no intention of harming you." Electra assured Reggie as she began to walk towards her. "At least not now. I'm simply going to make you my slave."_

_With that, Electra pointed her right index finger down at Reggie. The little girl watched in horror as a beam of white light shot out of Electra's finger and came towards her._

* * *

"…From that day, I was that woman's puppet." Reggie spoke as she finished her tale. "Just like my dad and later David. Usually she didn't have that much use for me, but I always had to do whatever she said whether I liked it or not."

"My god!" a horrified Atticus exclaimed.

"So it looks like you and your dad weren't brainwashed the same way Tabitha and the others were." Jaden observed.

"No." Reggie confirmed. "I've never really known why that woman decided to take control of my dad, but I think part of the reason was so she could gain the position she has here at the academy."

"Makes sense." Atticus spoke. "This way she's been able to recruit the students here in that little cult of hers."

"In a way it's not that different from when the Society of Light took over our old school." Jaden recalled.

"I think there's something else you should know, Jaden." Reggie spoke. "That woman has always looked exactly the same as the day I first laid eyes on her. Like she doesn't age. I'm not really sure… if she's even human."

"But then… what is she?" Atticus wondered.

"…I think maybe we should all call it a day." Jaden suggested. "It's been a pretty long night.

"Good idea." Atticus agreed. "I think we can all use some rest."

* * *

Jaden was lying on his bed still mostly dressed. He had only bothered to take off his red jacket. Thankfully Reggie and Atticus were not giving a repeat performance of the night when Reggie first began staying at the guesthouse. Yet Jaden was finding that sleep was proving to be an impossible task. There were still so many questions on his mind, and his conversation with Reggie about how she had first been brainwashed by Electra had only seemed to raise more.

As Jaden continued to stare up at the ceiling, his cat Pharaoh jumped up onto the foot of the bed. The cat yawned and a small ball of gold light flew out of his mouth. In moments, the ball of light took the form of a transparent man with long black hair and glasses. Jaden recognized this entity as the ghost of his dead teacher, Lyman Banner.

"Good evening, Jaden." Banner greeted. "Seems like you're up awfully late. Is something troubling you?"

"Hi Banner." Jaden greeted back. "It's kind of a long story. Say, you wouldn't know anything about some ancient god called Zott, would you?"

"Hmm…" Banner responded as he held his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, I think I may have heard of a legend about this so-called god you're referring to."

"Seriously?" a surprised Jaden asked as he sat up.

"If I remember correctly, I read something about the legend when I was looking into the origin of Ritual Monsters." Banner recalled.

"If this is going to be a long story, try and give us the short version." Yubel requested as she appeared. "It is pretty late, you know."

"As both of you know, the game we know today as Duel Monsters was originally played using monsters sealed within stone slabs." Banner began. "Instead of Spell cards, the magicians who played the game would cast real magical spells. One such spell was the magic used to fuse two or more monsters into one. But there was another kind of magic that the magicians would use. It was a type of ceremonial magic that would allow the magicians to sacrifice the energy of weaker monsters to create and summon a monster that was even stronger.

"Some of these magical rites were used merely to allow certain monsters to take on an even stronger form, while others were simply used to revive or awaken legendary beasts by offering the energies of weaker monsters. Maximillion Pegasus had come across these ancient spells during his research and used them as the inspiration for the Ritual Monsters and Spells that we know today."

"While that is interesting, I don't really see what all that has to do with Zott." Yubel interrupted.

"Normally, the magicians of ancient times would only sacrifice other monsters for these rituals." Banner continued. "But the texts that I've read also mention that some of these magicians would use human sacrifices for the rituals. By using a human sacrifice for the ritual, the summoned monster would gain an incredible power. But the practice of using human sacrifices was a forbidden unspeakable act."

"The Sacrifice Maidens!" Jaden spoke. "Electra and her followers have been doing the same thing some of those ancient magicians did."

"There was a specific legend mentioned that used this forbidden practice." Banner responded. "Over seven thousand years ago there was a kingdom who attempted to use a human sacrifice in a ritual to create a monster that would allow them to slay their enemies. But something went wrong during the ritual. Instead of the young maiden chosen as the offering, every other living thing in the kingdom was sacrificed. As a result, the young maiden had gained unspeakable power and the ritual had brought to life a demon known as Zott."

"Does the legend say what happened to Zott?" Jaden asked.

"The only thing I remember the legend saying is that Zott was eventually destroyed by a powerful hero." Banner recalled. "Beyond that, I'm afraid I don't know anything else."

"Well, I guess that's more than we knew before." Jaden admitted. "Of course I still don't see how Zott and Electra are connected to the Light of Destruction."

"Maybe not, but I'm certain that the Light's involved." Yubel told him. "Remember what Neos told us when he showed us the Primal Flame. The Light can take on many forms."

"Yeah… you're probably right." Jaden agreed as he leaned back onto the bed. "Whatever Zott and Electra are, I probably won't be able to beat them if I'm worn out. Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight, Jaden." Yubel replied.

With that, Yubel vanished and Banner turned back into a ball of gold light that Pharaoh quickly jumped up and devoured. Jaden closed his eyes and let his mind simply drift. Before he knew it, he had finally dozed off.

* * *

David sat at the desk in his room working on his deck. He had already changed for bed, but he was far from ready to go to sleep. Ever since his defeat to Jaden, David had been modifying his deck over and over again trying to figure out the best way improve it and get revenge. But none of the modifications he made seemed any better than how his deck had been built before. His original deck had been perfect, and yet a bush league duelist had still beaten him.

"Damn it!" David cursed in frustration as he threw his cards against the wall. "How could I have lost to that chump?"

"Well that certainly isn't going to solve anything." A familiar voice spoke. "Glad to see that you're holding onto that anger though."

David looked back and saw Electra standing in the room, completely naked. The sight of her nude figure turned David on. Of course he had always found Electra to be sexy, but he never thought he would see her like this.

"Electra!" David spoke as he rose to his feet. "What're you…?"

"I need you to help me destroy Jaden Yuki." Electra explained as she walked up. "You obviously want revenge against him."

"You know I do!" David confirmed. "I want to make that little punk pay for humiliating me like that!"

"As you are now, I'm afraid that won't be possible." Electra informed him. "But I can give you the power to crush him."

"Fine! Do whatever you have to!" David told her. "I don't care what it takes, as long as I can get my revenge!"

"Good." Electra replied as her lips curved into a smirk. "I knew you'd say that."

Suddenly Electra slashed open the front of the black t-shit David was wearing with her fingernails. Before David could react, the blunette pushed him hard onto the floor. Electra swiftly removed his boxers, exposing his already hardened rod. She then got down on top of him, moaning a bit as the rod entered her. Afterwards Electra began bucking her hips wildly.

David had never felt anything so amazing before. He found that he was almost mesmerized by the bouncing of Electra's large breasts. But as David gazed at Electra's form, he quickly noticed that it was starting to change. The pupils of her golden eyes had become slit-like almost like the eyes of a cat. Her tan skin began to turn dark-blue. Black curved horns grew from the sides of Electra's head, and her fingernails had become black claws. David also noticed that a thin cord-like tail with a point on the end had grown from Electra's rear end and was wagging about.

When Electra's transformation had finished, Electra had increased the pace of her movements. David could feel himself getting close to the edge. Then with one last hard movement from Electra's hips, they both hit their climax. Electra grinned and the tip of the claw of her right index finger began to glow with an odd white light. She began to use the claw to leave scratches in David's chest deep enough to draw blood. David felt an extremely painful burning sensation from Electra's claw, yet at the same it felt quite pleasurable. By the time Electra had finished, she had carved the emblem of Zott into David's chest.

Electra raised her palm above David's chest. "I empower you in the name of Lord Zott!"

A blast of white light shot down from Electra's palm and hit the symbol carved on David's chest. David could feel an intense power rushing throughout his entire body. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt on top of the world.

* * *

It was morning as Sheila and Tabitha relaxed under the shade of a tree on academy grounds. Tabitha was lying on her back with her head resting on Sheila's lap. They both still could not remember much have what had happened leading up to and during Tabitha's duel with Jaden. But what had happened after the duel was quite wonderful. It seemed that something very good had come out of the ordeal.

"I don't think I've ever felt this happy before." Tabitha spoke. "I feel like I can be my real self with you, Sheila."

"I think I know what you mean." Sheila replied. "I've wanted to get to know you for so long now, but I never thought it could be like this."

Tabitha sat up and looked Sheila in the eye. "I want you to know Sheila that whatever it is that we have between us, it isn't just a physical relationship for me. I really do care about you."

"I feel the same way." Sheila replied. "And while I don't know where this thing between us is going, I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that you feel the same way." Tabitha told her.

With that, the two of them leaned in and shared another deep kiss. The two girls were so involved with one another that they didn't notice when Jaden and the others showed up.

"Looks like you two have really hit it off." Atticus observed, startling the two girls. Tabitha's face had turned bright red while Sheila merely looked a little irritated.

"Hi guys." Sheila greeted after quickly regaining her composure. "What's up?"

"We just dropped by to see how you two were doing." Jaden explained. "Kinda looks like we came at a bad time though."

"Probably would've been worse if you had shown up like five minutes later." Sheila replied. "So have you figured out how to take down that witch Electra and get things back to normal around here?"

"Not yet. But we think she's going to try something today." Reggie answered.

"Guys, I think we should bring Alexis in on this." Jaden decided. "We can probably use all the help we can get."

"I think you might be right about that." Atticus agreed. "Plus she deserves to know what's going on."

"I'm afraid that none of you are going to have the chance to tell her anything." A familiar voice interrupted.

Jaden and the others looked and saw David approaching them with an evil grin on his face. Right away, Jaden could tell something was off about David. The American pro duelist had a mad look in his eyes.

"Looks like we've got bigger problems right now." Yubel observed as she appeared.

Jaden nodded and focused his attention on David. "What do you want, Rabb?"

"I'd think that would be obvious even to an idiot like you." David answered as he activated his duel disk. "You and I are gonna have a rematch. And you're not leaving until it's over."

"Fine! Game on!" Jaden agreed as he activated his own duel disk. "Let's make this quick!"

"Oh, it'll be quick all right." David responded. "Because I'm gonna blow you away in one shot!"

* * *

Alexis walked across the grounds towards the abandoned dorm. Several minutes ago Principle Mackenzie had called her and asked her to come meet him there. Though he didn't say what the reason was. As soon as Alexis arrived, she found Principle Mackenzie waiting in front of the door to the old abandoned structure. Right away she noticed that he had a duel disk on his arm.

"Ah, Ms. Rhodes. Thank you for coming so soon." Principle Mackenzie greeted. "I see you also have your duel disk with you. This will make things so much easier."

"Sir, what's going on?" Alexis asked.

Principle Mackenzie merely grinned and snapped his fingers. Suddenly a wall of white flames had surrounded both him and Alexis.

"Did you really think that I gave you the position you have here because of your skills?" Principle Mackenzie asked. "You were chosen because you were the ultimate sacrifice to revive my master."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Alexis demanded to know.

"There is only one way out of this ring of fire." Principle Mackenzie told her as he activated his duel disk. "And that is to defeat me."

"I don't know what any of this is about, but you're going to regret challenging me!" Alexis declared as she activated her own duel disk in response. "Don't think you can take me down so easily!"

"Oh, I know that you'll give me a good fight." Principle Mackenzie responded with an evil grin. "That's why you're exactly the right sacrifice to revive Lord Zott."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Just to let everyone know, there might be a slight delay with posting this next chapter of this story. I have this other thing that I want to try and take care of this weekend. Plus I have to figure out a couple things about how the next chapter is going to go. But I'll try not to keep everyone waiting for too long. Hopefully, it'll be worth the wait.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	12. The Destroyer and the Divinity

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 12: The Destroyer and the Divinity

"I'll let you start things off." David told Jaden as they drew their opening hands. "It wouldn't be near as fun if I didn't at least try and give you a fighting shot."

"Fine!" Jaden agreed as he drew his first card. "First I activate Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Then I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Clayman with Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster in Defense Mode!"

Burstinatirx and Clayman appeared on the battlefield before leaping into a small vortex that had appeared in the air. Dropping down onto the field a with a thud moments later was Burstinatrix wearing a more advanced version of Clayman's armor that included a red visor over the upper half of her face. On the end of her left arm was a red shield white her right arm ended with an advanced laser cannon. Rampart Blaster kneeled down and raised her shield.

"A monster with 2500 DEF. That's a pretty good wall to use for an opening turn." Sheila commented from the sidelines.

"That wall isn't strong enough to stop David though." Reggie gravely remarked. "A monster like Rampart Blaster will be easy for him to get rid of."

"Maybe so, but Jaden will still find a way to win." Atticus assured her.

"I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced.

"Not a bad opening move." David remarked. "But that fused barrier monster won't stand a chance against my ultimate power. Behold!"

As David drew his next card, his body gave off a feint white aura. Right away a mad grin appeared on David's face. Jaden could tell that something was off.

"First I think a little chance of scenery is in order." David decided. "I activate the Spell, Terraforming and add Domain of Rituals to my hand. Then I play the Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

In an instant, the sunny school grounds transformed into an all too familiar grey wasteland. Jaden and the others quickly noticed some differences in the wasteland when it appeared around them though. The dark overcast sky seemed to be rumbling with thunder and there were occasional flashes of lightning. The emblem of Zott that adorned the mysterious structure in the distance was glowing with a strange white light.

"Is it just me, or has this Field Spell suddenly gotten creepier?" Sheila asked as she looked around.

"No, it's different alright." Atticus agreed. "But what does it mean?"

"I don't know how I know… but I think this means that something bad is coming." Tabitha spoke.

"Tabitha's right." Reggie agreed. "I think we may be running out of time."

"Hey Rabb! What's going on with this Field Spell?" Jaden demanded to know.

"Oh, you mean the weather in this place? It just means that the time of his revival is getting real close." David explained.

"You mean Zott?" Jaden deduced.

"That's right. It won't be much longer." David confirmed. "Very soon Lord Zott will rise and begin the new age of chaos!"

"I'm not gonna let that happen!" Jaden declared. "Even if Zott does manage to revive, I'll stop him and put an end to all this!"

"You won't get that chance, because I'm gonna slaughter you right here!" David declared. "I activate the Spell, Foolish Burial! With this card I send a monster straight from my deck to the Graveyard. Then I activate Monster Reborn and bring that monster to the field! I call forth The Big Saturn!"

A pillar of white light burst onto the field behind David. The light quickly faded to reveal his giant robot.

"Now the Big Saturn's on the field, I activate the Spell I drew at the beginning of this turn, Titan Rising!" David announced. "With Titan Rising's effect, I add a very special pair of cards to my hand. And now I activate one of those cards, the Ritual Spell known as Forbidden Upgrade!"

Four gold metallic cylinders suddenly burst up from the ground around Big Saturn. The tops of each cylinder opened up and ray gun-like devises rose from the top. A circle of red light appeared on the ground around the robot.

"Forbidden Upgrade lets me use Big Saturn as the entire offering for the Ritual." David continued. "So I sacrifice Big Saturn in order to upgrade him into… The Destroyer Saturn!"

The four devices that had appeared around Saturn fired bolts of red electrical energy at the large robot. In seconds the entire battlefield was washed out in an explosion of golden light. The light faded after a moment to reveal that Saturn had transformed. The silver parts of his body had turned gold and the ring of white energy around his body had turned red. The machine's yellow eyes had become red as well, and the faceplate of his mask had transformed to look like a large set of fangs. The robot's original hands had been replaced by two sets of four long prongs placed on all sides of the machine's cylindrical forearms. Mounted where the robot's shoulders might be were two large gold laser cannons with long barrels and thick cables connected to the jetpack on its back.

"That's a… Machine-type Ritual Monster?" a stunned Sheila spoke.

"Whatever it is, it has 3800 ATK." An equally stunned Tabitha observed. "There's no way Rampart Blaster can survive an attack like that."

"Before I attack, I activate Destroyer Saturn's effect!" David announced. "I discard my entire hand, and Destroyer Saturn does 300 points of damage for each card in my Graveyard! And in case you haven't been paying attention, I have eight cards in my Graveyard right now. Which means you're about to lose a whopping 2400 life points!"

The red energy ring around Saturn's torso vanished, allowing the sides of his torso to extend open and the cannon in his chest to extend forward. Inside the machine's large chest were several small missile launchers. At the same time, Saturn raised his forearms forward and his long claws rotated backward and large laser cannon barrels extended from his palms.

"Saturn, open fire on Jaden Yuki!" David commanded. "Annihilator Blitz!"

Saturn launched ever one of the missiles in his chest and fired massive red beams from all five of his cannons. Jaden was hit by the intense blast, and the force of the resulting explosion had knocked the four spectators watching the duel onto their backs. The smoke cleared after a moment and Jaden was standing and catching his breath. His eyes had already turned orange and teal, and his life points had sharply dropped to 1600.

After a moment, Tabitha got up and began helping Sheila to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"I think so." Sheila replied. "What kind of attack was that?"

"You alright?" Atticus asked Reggie as he helped her up.

"I'm fine." Reggie assured him.

"Hey Rabb! That psycho move of yours almost killed us!" Atticus protested.

"Then you shouldn't have been standing so close." David responded.

"Jaden, are you okay?" a concerned Reggie asked.

"I'm… I'm fine." Jaden replied.

"Not for long!" David told him. "I still haven't actually attacked yet. And when Destroyer Saturn takes out a Defense Mode monster in battle, my opponent takes damage equal to the difference between their ATK and DEF!"

"Seriously?" Sheila exclaimed. "That thing is way too overpowered!"

"At least Rampart Blaster's DEF will allow Jaden to keep some life points when the attack ends." Tabitha pointed out. "But I'm not sure if Jaden has the stamina to survive another attack like that explosion."

"Saturn, destroy that sorry excuse for a wall monster!" David commanded. "Planetary Destroyer!"

Destroyer Saturn's torso retracted back to its original form, but the cannons in his forearms were still extended. The machine aimed both barrels at Rampart Blaster and opened fire. The armored hero was destroyed in a huge explosion that knocked Jaden onto his back. His life points dropped again to 300. Saturn's forearms converted back to their original forms. After a moment, Jaden managed to get back up.

"Boy, you sure are a tough little son of a bitch." David remarked with an arrogant smirk. "I was hoping to kill you in one blow. But now that I think about it, it'll be a lot more fun to blow you away a second time."

"I… I activate my Trap, Neo Signal!" Jaden announced. "When one of my monsters is destroyed in battle, Neo Signal lets me summon a Neo-Spacian from my deck. So I summon Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird!"

Materializing on the battlefield was a humanoid hummingbird-like creature with a slender yet muscular build. His body was covered in red and black feathers and he had a pair of small white wings on his back.

"Not much of a comeback." David scoffed.

"We'll see about that!" Jaden declared. "You can fire every weapon you've got at me, Rabb! But before this duel's over, I'm taking you down!"

* * *

Alexis and Principle Mackenzie both drew their opening hands. As the two of them prepared to face off, Alexis was trying to figure out what was going on. There were only two things that she could be sure of. The first was that the duel she was about to have was not going to be a normal one. The second was that Jaden was involved somehow. Though just how, she wasn't sure.

"I believe I'll start this duel off." Principle Mackenzie decided as he drew his first card. "I summon Thousand-Eyed Ghost in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

Appearing on Principle Mackenzie's side of the field was a floating monster with a round body that had two tentacle-like arms on the sides. The creature was covered in mummy wrappings that had turned brown with age, and peeking out from between them were several large eyes.

Alexis drew her first card. "I activate the Spell card, Machine Angel Ritual!"

Appearing to tower behind Alexis was a massive caldron of flames. Its base was made of several grey metal pipes.

"Ah yes. I had forgotten that you were a Ritual user as well." Principle Mackenzie recalled. "That makes this duel all the more amusing."

"I sacrifice Cyber Prima from my hand to summon Cyber Angel-Benten!" Alexis continued.

Appearing above the flaming caldron was a woman with long silver hair wearing a red mask and a grey and blue bodysuit with a tutu. The flames incinerated the woman, and a ball of fired shot out and landed on the field in front of Alexis. In moments the fireball took the form of a woman with long black hair wearing a sleeveless white and red tight-fitting bodysuit and an ornate gold mask over the top half of her face. In her hands she carried a large red fan connected by a chain to a long wooden handle.

"Benten, attack Thousand-Eyed Ghost!" Alexis commanded. "Angelic Turn!"

Benten jumped into the air and turned around before flinging her fan at Mackenzie's undead monster. The fan split the creature down the middle, and both halves quickly dissolved into dust.

"I'm not done yet!" Alexis continued. "Whenever Benten destroys a monster, she inflicts damage to my opponent equal to that monster's DEF!"

Benten pulled her fan back and flung it back at Principle Mackenzie. Mackenzie quickly covered his face with his arms to try and shield himself from the attack. The fan struck and his life points dropped to 3000.

"Only 1800 ATK, and still quite deadly." Principle Mackenzie remarked. "When Thousand-Eyed Ghost is sent to the Graveyard, I can summon a monster of level four or below from my deck! Appear now, Double Coston!"

Appearing where the Thousand-Eyed Ghost once floated was a small black blob with short stubby arms on its sides. Its face consisted of a smirking mouth and beady olive-green eyes with slit-like pupils.

"I end my turn!" Alexis announced. "But before this duel goes any further, I'd like an explanation to what's going on here!"

"Very well. I suppose you deserve that much." Principle Mackenzie agreed. "You have been chosen to become the ultimate sacrifice for the revival of Lord Zott."

"Zott? Who's that supposed to be?" Alexis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A being of ultimate power who once ruled over an era of chaos and delight." Principle Mackenzie answered. "He would still be in power today were it not for the one who calls himself the Supreme King."

"You mean Jaden." Alexis observed.

"Ages ago he used his power to defeat Zott and bring his reign to an end." Principle Mackenzie confirmed. "But soon he will rise again, and you shall be the one to help him do it!"

"So I'm supposed to be the sacrifice to bring this Zott or whatever it is back?" Alexis deduced.

"Originally David was to be the one to…'prepare you' for the ritual." Principle Mackenzie revealed. "But you proved to be very unreceptive to his advances. Plus it seems that you're far too strong-willed to be prepared like the other sacrifices, so it seems that I'm going to have to defeat you in a duel in order to get the job done."

"I still don't really know what you're talking about, but you're not going to beat me!" Alexis declared.

"Don't be so sure, my dear." Principle Mackenzie responded with an ominous grin as he drew his next card. "Your defeat is already at hand. Double Coston can be used as two sacrifices to summon a Dark attribute monster, so I sacrifice Double Coston to summon… The Supremacy Sun!"

The black blob that was Double Coston divided like a single celled organism and became two creatures. A massive column of golden light that shot up from the ground then instantly destroyed both blobs. The light faded, and hovering above the battlefield was a being that had a muscular humanoid upper body with tan skin and clawed fingers. Much of his body was covered with ornate black and gold armor. On his chin was a black bead like the ones worn by the pharaohs of Egypt, and on his back were ten diamond-shaped wings made of golden light.

"That's… one of the Legendary Planet monsters!" a stunned Alexis observed.

"The same series that David's Big Saturn and Reggie's Splendid Venus are both from." Principle Mackenzie confirmed. "The card designer who created the cards was a friend of mine. He had given me three of the cards as a gift. As far as stats go, The Sun is strongest card in the series. But with the power that I possess, he is about to become even stronger. I activate a Spell card known as Solar Advent! With Supremacy Sun on the field, I can add a certain pair of cards to my hand. Next I activate one of the cards just added to my hand, a Ritual Spell known as Divine Prominence!"

Appearing beyond the wall of white flames around the battlefield in a spot behind where Principle Mackenzie stood was a massive golden pyramid. The capstone of the pyramid suddenly rose up off the top and began rotating around as it glowed with a golden light.

"Under normal circumstances, I would have to offer monsters whose levels totaled twelve or more for the Ritual." Principle Mackenzie continued. "But I can also use The Supremacy Sun as the entire offering instead! So I now offer up The Sun in order to transform him into a much more powerful being!"

A beam of golden light shot down from the floating capstone and stuck The Sun in the back, washing out the entire battlefield in a massive explosion of light. The light faded after a moment to reveal that The Sun had transformed. The black and gold color scheme of his armor had switched. A gold and black cobra hood headdress like the one worn by the pharaohs had replaced his original helmet.

"Behold! The Divinity Sun!" Principle Mackenzie called. "With the power of this celestial being, victory in this duel shall be mine!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This was my first attempt at doing a chapter that had two separate duels going on at the same time, so it was kind of a challenge. Hopefully I've made both duels easy to follow, especially since I've left both of them on a cliffhanger. The next chapter will continue with Alexis' duel and finish up with Jaden's.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	13. The Ultimate Sacrifice

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 13: The Ultimate Sacrifice

"The Divinity Sun has 4000 ATK, making him far stronger than your little Cyber Angel." Principle Mackenzie spoke. "But in order for The Sun to attack, I must discard one card from my hand. So I discard Lich Lord, King of the Underworld and use The Sun to attack Cyber Angel Benten! Divine Ray!"

The center of The Sun's chest opened up and blasted Benten with a massive beam of gold light. Benten was instantly vaporized and Alexis' life points dropped to 2200.

"With that, I set two cards on the field and end my turn." Principle Mackenzie announced.

Suddenly Divinity Sun rose backwards up into the air. In moments his body became enveloped in thick dark clouds and vanished. In place of The Sun appeared two other monsters. One of them was Thousand-Eyed Ghost. The other was a skeleton with bones that had turned brown with extreme age. It wore a very old and tattered red hooded cloak, and on its back it had a pair of large, black-feathered wings. Over its hood the skeleton wore an ancient crown. In its right hand it carried a long wooden staff with a glowing red gemstone on the top. An eerie red light glowed from the left eye socket of the skull.

"What's… going on?" a confused Alexis asked.

"At the end of each of my turns, Divinity Sun sends itself to the Graveyard, signaling the end of the day." Principle Mackenzie explains. "When night has fallen on the field, The Sun's power allows me to bring Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost back from the Graveyard in Defense Mode."

"Well, I guess I can't complain now that The Sun is gone." Alexis remarked as she drew her next card. "I summon Sonic Bird in Attack Mode!" A large eagle wearing a jetpack and goggles flew down onto the battlefield. "When Sonic Bird is summoned, I can add a Ritual Spell to my hand. Next I activate Machine Angel Ritual and sacrifice Sonic Bird and Cyber Gymnast from my hand to summon Cyber Angel-Dakini!"

The massive cauldron of flames appeared behind Alexis once more. A muscular woman with tan skin and blonde hair wearing a white mask with a sleeveless black bodysuit appeared over the torch before being consumed by the flames. A tendril of fire came down from the torch and consumed Sonic Bird. The flames quickly subsided to reveal a woman with blue skin and four muscular arms. Her chest and shoulders were covered in orange armor while her legs were covered in tight-fitting black pants. On her head was a gold helmet with a long back and a flat top. The woman's front pair of arms carried a bladed staff, while her remaining two arms carried a pair of swords.

"When Dakini is summoned to the field, my opponent is forced to choose and destroy one monster they control!" Alexis announced.

"Then of course the monster I choose to destroy is Thousand-Eyed Ghost." Principle Mackenzie announced. A small pillar of flames quickly incinerated the multi-eyed specter. "When Thousand-Eyed Ghost is sent to the Graveyard, I can summon a level four or lower monster from my deck in its place. So I summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense Mode!"

Appearing in place of Thousand-Eyed Ghost was a large tortoise with sand-colored scales. An Egyptian crown adorned the top of its head, and instead of a shell was a pyramid.

"When Dakini attacks a monster in Defense Mode, she deals damage equal to the difference between their ATK and DEF." Alexis continued. "Lich Lord had zero DEF, which makes him the perfect target."

"Indeed." Principle Mackenzie admitted. "And Dakini has 2700 ATK, which means I would take significant damage."

"You got that right!" Alexis responded. "Dakini, take down Lich Lord with Angelic Spear!"

Principle Mackenzie grinned as Dakini jumped into the air. "Of course, I've already prepared an adequate defense against such a monster. I activate my Trap, Staunch Defender! With this card, I change the target of Dakini's attack to Pyramid Turtle!"

Just as Dakini's spear was about to strike Lich Lord in the skull, the end of her weapon was pulled by an unknown force and made to hit Pyramid Turtle. The turtle's shell shattered apart and the monster itself dissolved into sand. Principle Mackenzie's life points dropped to 1700.

"When Pyramid Turtle is destroyed in battle, I can summon another Zombie-type monster with 2000 or less DEF from my deck." Principle Mackenzie announced. "So I summon a second Lich Lord, King of the Underworld!"

A black mist appeared on Principle Mackenzie's side of the battlefield. The mist quickly vanished to reveal a second winged skeleton identical to the first one that Mackenzie had summoned earlier.

"I guess I end my turn." Alexis announced with a sigh.

Suddenly a massive golden light appeared behind Principle Mackenzie. The Divinity Sun emerged from the light and both the Lich Lords began to burn brightly with golden flames. The two skeletons burned to ash as The Sun came down to hover over the battlefield. Principle Mackenzie then began to glow with a golden aura as his life points rose to 6500.

"What's… going on here?" a shocked Alexis asked.

"At the beginning of each of my turns, Divinity Sun rises from the Graveyard to start a new day." Principle Mackenzie explained. "The creatures of the night that are on my field when The Sun returns are burned to ash, and I gain life points equal to their combined ATK. But my life points are the least of your worries. I activate a Trap, Divine Sunrise! When a Ritual Monster is summoned from the Graveyard, that monster gains 1000 ATK for the duration of the turn!"

"Then that means…" Alexis quickly realized.

"The Divinity Sun's ATK is now 5000." Principle Mackenzie finished. "I discard one card so that The Sun can attack Dakini! Divine Ray!"

The Sun fired a massive beam of golden light from his chest and vaporized Dakini in one shot. Alexis' life points dropped to zero as she fell to her knees. With the duel at its end, The Sun vanished from the field and the wall of white flames around the two duelists vanished.

"You put up a good struggle." Principle Mackenzie told Alexis. "I expected nothing less from you. But you have lost, which means by the power of Lord Zott I now make you a sacrifice to revive his glory!"

With that, Principle Mackenzie pointed his right arm towards Alexis and fired a beam of white light from his hand. Alexis was struck in the chest and consumed by a pillar of white flames. The flames diminished and turned into a small white fireball that flew off towards the academy.

* * *

Electra stood on the roof of the academy before a large slab of grey stone. Carved on the front of the stone tablet was a demonic-looking creature that had horns and a plate in the shape of the sun that covered its right eye. Electra glanced back and saw a small white fireball moving towards her. Smiling, Electra lifted her right hand as if holding a card in her fingers. The fireball struck her hand and changed into a Duel Monsters card with the name, Sacrifice Maiden Alexis.

"Well done, my priest." Electra spoke. "Thanks to your efforts, we're now only a step away to finally reviving Lord Zott. Soon not even the Supreme King will be able to stop us. But then again, he may not even be able to survive his duel against my little assassin."

* * *

"I think I'll end my turn here." David announced in his duel with Jaden. "Go ahead and make your last move. Not that it'll amount to much."

Jaden glared at David as he drew his next card. The card he drew burned momentarily with a flash of red flames.

"First I activate the Spell, E-Emergency Call!" Jaden announced. "With this card I add another Elemental Hero to my hand! Next I play the Spell, Ancient Rules and summon Elemental Hero Neos!" The white hero of space appeared on Jaden's side of the battlefield.

"Of course! Contact Fusion!" Atticus enthusiastically spoke on the sidelines. "Now Jaden can return Neos and Air Hummingbird to his deck and summon a monster that can take down Destroyer Saturn."

"I activate the Spell, Primal Awakening!" Jaden announced. "With Neos on the field, I can add Rite of the Primal Flame and the monster it summons to my hand! Now I activate Rite of the Primal Flame and sacrifice Neos to transform him into Primal Neos!"

Two ornate torches appeared to each side of Neos and shot two fireballs into the gem on the hero's chest. Neos became enveloped in a pillar of flames that quickly subsided to reveal the hero in his ancestral form.

"Rhodie, what was that you were saying about Jaden using Neos and Air Hummingbird to summon a more powerful monster?" Reggie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't understand." A confused Atticus spoke. "Sure Primal Neos is a strong monster, but even with his power-up effect his ATK would only be equal to Destroyer Saturn's."

"Maybe he's planning some kind of suicide attack using Primal Neos." Sheila assumed. "Once Saturn's out of the way, he can launch a direct attack on David with Air Hummingbird and at least do some damage."

"The only problem with that is that Air Hummingbird isn't that strong." Tabitha pointed out. "I'm sure a duelist of David Rabb's caliber has a few backup strategies in place should something happen to his strongest monster."

"That's it?" an amused David spoke. "Aren't you going to at least try to defend yourself? What's the point of brining out a monster like that if you can't do anything with it?"

"I return Primal Neos and Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird for a Contact Fusion!" Jaden announced, startling David and the others. "With these two monsters, I summon an ancient hero of the skies, Primal Air Neos!"

Neos and Air Hummingbird jumped high into the sky, quickly fading from view. Suddenly the winds around the battlefield began to pick up. Descending from the sky above to hover above the field was Neos in a new form. His long orange hair had become green and his body had turned purple. The red markings on his body had become green, with his original flame-shaped markings replaces with curling lines meant to represent the wind. The ancient hero now had a mouth full of white fangs and the top of his head had formed a crest that made him look like a humanoid pterodactyl. Neos' hands had become like talons and on his back was a massive pair of wings with red feathers and black tips. Along with Primal Neos' original belt, the hero also had on a tattered grey toga.

"So… Jaden can use Primal Neos for Contact Fusions too?" a stunned Atticus observed.

"Because I returned Primal Neos to the deck for a Contact Fusion, I can return Rite of the Primal Flame to the deck too." Jaden continued. "But that's not all. Primal Air Neos gains ATK equal to the difference in our life points. Which means his ATK jumps from 2800 to 6500!"

"So he's 3000 points stronger than Saturn." David observed. "Not bad I guess."

"I'm not finished there." Jaden continued. "I activate Primal Air Neos' effect, Sonic Battle Screech! Once per turn I can lower the ATK of a monster my opponent controls by an amount equal to the difference in our life points! Which means Saturn's ATK drops to 100!"

Neos opened his mouth and let out a shriek that forced everyone to cover their ears. The sonic attack caused Saturn's body to crackle with blue electric sparks.

"This ends now!" Jaden declared. "Neos! Take out Destroyer Saturn with Primal Hurricane!"

Air Neos flapped his wings and sent forth a massive gust of wind towards Saturn. The robot's body began to creek as the wind struck it, and soon it exploded with a blast of fire and smoke that washed out David's entire side of the field. It seemed like Jaden had won, but the smoke cleared to reveal The Big Saturn in place of its evolved form. Even more surprising was that David still had 800 life points left.

"What's going on?" a confused Jaden asked.

"That was a pretty good move." David admitted. "But when Destroyer Saturn is taken out in battle, it cuts any damage I might take in half and summons The Big Saturn back from the Graveyard. And since Big Saturn's back, I now activate Forbidden Upgrade's secondary effect from the Graveyard! By banishing both Forbidden Upgrade and Destroyer Saturn, Big Saturn gains 1000 ATK."

"And Jaden was so close." A very disappointed Sheila spoke. "If it weren't for that overpowered robot's effect, he would've won."

"I lay down a face-down and end my turn!" Jaden announced. "And when my turn ends, Primal Air Neos goes back to my Fusion Deck."

Primal Air Neos flew off into the sky and quickly faded from view. Moments later however, Neos jumped back down from the sky in his original form.

"What the hell's that weakling doing back?" David asked with a raised eyebrow.

"When Primal Air Neos goes back to the deck, I can summon Elemental Hero Neos back from my deck or Graveyard." Jaden explained.

"So now both Neos and Saturn are back to their original forms." Sheila observed.

"This truly has been an impressive duel." Tabitha remarked. "It would've been more enjoyable if there wasn't so much at stake."

"I'll admit that you're not bad for a bush league duelist." David spoke as he drew his next card. "But it's all gonna end now! Saturn, wipe that pathetic superhero off the field! Anger Hammer!"

"I activate my Trap, Justi-Break!" Jaden quickly announced. "Since a Normal Monster like Neos is being attacked, this card destroys all monsters my opponent controls!"

Saturn launched one of his flying fists towards Neos. But before the first could strike, Neos raised his fist in the air and shot a bolt of transparent lightning into the air. The lightning came down and stuck Saturn, destroying the robot in a massive explosion.

An expression of utter shock and disbelief appeared on David's face. "This… can't be!"

"Since you're obviously done, I'm starting my turn!" Jaden decided as he drew his next card. "Neos! Attack Rabb directly and end this! Wrath of Neos!"

Neos jumped into the air towards David and quickly punched the blonde duelist in the face. The punch knocked David out cold and his life points dropped to zero as he hit the ground. With the duel finally at its end, Neos vanished and the surrounding area returned to normal. Though the sky above was still thick with dark clouds. Jaden suddenly fell to his knees, causing Atticus and the others to rush over to him.

"You okay?" Atticus asked Jaden as he and Reggie helped the wandering duelist to his feet.

"I'll be fine." Jaden assured them. "That duel just took a lot out of me."

"Hey. Why's the sky still all dark and gloomy?" Sheila noticed as she looked around.

"Because this isn't over yet." Jaden answered. "We still need to take down Electra."

"But where is that witch?" Atticus wondered.

"She's probably at the academy's main building." Reggie assumed. "I think what she needs for her plan is there."

"Then that's where we need to go." Jaden decided. "And I think if we don't hurry, the whole world might be in danger."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I had kind of a challenge writing the duel between Alexis and Principle Mackenzie. One big problem was that I ended up rewriting the effect of The Divinity Sun. I've been trying to build on the effects of the original Legendary Planet monsters when coming up with their Ritual forms. But for some reason The Supremacy Sun's effect was giving me some difficulty. In the end I took a little inspiration from the 5D's anime when Yusei, Jack, and Crow dueled Rex Goodwin to figure out how The Divinity Sun's effect was going to work.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	14. High Priest of Zott

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 14: High Priest of Zott

Jaden and the others ran as quickly as they could towards the main building of the academy. Overhead, the overcast sky continued to occasionally rumble with thunder. It seemed very clear that something bad was about to happen. The whole way over, Jaden and his companions noticed that the students and teachers they saw outside seemed oblivious to what was going on, almost as if they were in some kind of trance. After only a few minutes of running, the group finally arrived at the rear entrance to the school, only to find Principle Mackenzie blocking their path.

"Ah, Mr. Yuki." Principle Mackenzie greeted. "I had a feeling you would show up here. I knew that David wouldn't be strong enough to defeat you."

"Wait, Principle Mackenzie is in on this too?" a surprised Sheila asked.

"He has been from the beginning." Reggie confirmed. "Ever since that day."

"You better let us through, Principle Mackenzie!" Jaden told him.

"I'm afraid that there's only one way for all of you to pass." Principle Mackenzie spoke. "And that is for one of you to defeat me in a duel."

"Fine! Then I'll…" Jaden began, but Reggie raised her hand in front of him to cut him off.

"I'll duel you!" Reggie agreed.

"What? You dare to go against you own father?" a somewhat angered Principle Mackenzie spoke.

"You haven't been a father to me in years." Reggie retorted. "Not since that wretched woman twisted your mind."

"Mac, are you sure about this?" Jaden asked.

"You're still recovering from your duel with David." Reggie pointed out. "If we're going to beat that witch, we'll need you at your best. Besides, I still owe you for what you did for me before."

"Mac, maybe I should take this duel." A concerned Atticus suggested. "I mean… this could be real dangerous."

"Thanks, Rhodie. But this is my fight." Reggie replied. "If anyone's going to defeat the monster that my dad's become, it's me."

"To think that you would disrespect you own father in this way." Principle Mackenzie spoke. "The Supreme King truly has poisoned you mind. Be that as it may, as a duelist I cannot turn down your challenge."

With that, Reggie and their father both activated their duel disks. Jaden and the others watched as the two drew their opening hands.

"As your father and principle of this academy, I shall go first." Principle Mackenzie declared as he drew his first card. "I summon Pyramid Turtle in Defense Mode!" A tan tortoise with an Egyptian crown and a pyramid for a shell appeared on the battlefield. "Next I shall set two cards on the field and end my turn."

"So Principle Mackenzie plays a Zombie deck?" Jaden observed from the sidelines.

"I guess so." Sheila replied. "I've never seen Principle Mackenzie duel before."

"He is the principle of a duel academy." Tabitha pointed out. "He probably didn't get this position simply for his administrative skills."

Reggie drew her first card. "I activate Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen!" an ornate throne room appeared behind Reggie. "With this card, I can summon a Fairy-type monster from my hand when I have no other monsters on the field. So I summon Shatiel in Defense Mode!"

Appearing on Reggie's side of the battlefield in a kneeling position was a muscular male warrior with silver hair and a pair of white angelic wings. He was clad in white and gold armor and carried a large round golden shield.

"As long as Shatiel is on the field, all my Fairy monsters gain 400 ATK and DEF." Reggie continued. "Next I summon Iofiel in Attack Mode!"

Materializing next to Shatiel was a humanoid figure with large white-feathered wings on its back. Its body was clad almost completely in white and gold armor, and a strange white mask completely covered its face.

"When Iofiel is summoned to the field, I can send a level one Fairy from my deck to the Graveyard to have Iofiel gain 1000 ATK!" Reggie announced. "So I send Zeriel to the Graveyard and raise Iofiel's ATK to 2400!"

"Impressive. She summoned a monster with 2400 ATK in just one turn." Tabitha observed.

"Yeah, but I don't think it's such a good idea for her to attack with those two face-down cards on the field." Sheila pointed out.

"This is kind of what I was afraid of." Atticus spoke. "I'm not sure Mac is thinking straight enough to win this duel. She could be walking right into a trap if she attacks now."

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Jaden assured him.

"Atticus does have a point." Yubel told Jaden as she appeared. "I'm sure Mackenzie's set up some kind of trap, but it may not be those face-down cards."

"You think Pyramid Turtle's the trap?" Jaden quickly deduced.

Yubel nodded. "If Reggie attacks, she could be playing right into her father's hands."

"I equip Iofiel with Fairy Meteor Crush, allowing it to inflict battle damage when destroying a monster in Defense Mode!" Reggie announced. "Iofiel, attack Pyramid Turtle! Angel Wing Strike!"

Iofiel flew at full speed across the battlefield and slammed its right wing hard into the pyramid on the turtle's back. The pyramid crumbled and the turtle collapsed into a pile of sand and blew away. Principle Mackenzie's life points dropped to 3000.

"When Pyramid Turtle is destroyed in battle, I can summon a Zombie-type monster with 2000 or less DEF from my deck. I now summon Double Coston!" Principle Mackenzie announced. A black blob-like creature with stubby arms and beady eyes appeared on the field.

"I end my turn." Reggie announced.

Principle Mackenzie drew his next card. "Double Coston's effect allows me to use it as two tributes for a Dark attribute monster. So I sacrifice Double Coston to summon The Supremacy Sun!"

Double Coston divided in half to create a second blob-like monster. A pillar of golden light that shot up from the ground consumed both creatures, burning them to ash. In moments, the pillar of light faded to reveal The Supremacy Sun.

"That's… another Planet monster!" a stunned Shiela quickly realized. "Just like The Big Saturn and Reggie's Splendid Venus."

"To think that all three members of the Mackenzie family would have three of the cards from that series." An equally surprised Tabitha remarked.

"With The Sun on the field, I activate a Spell known as Solar Advent!" Principle Mackenzie announced. "This card lets me bring the Ritual Spell, Divine Prominence and the monster it summons to my hand. Now I activate Divine Prominence and use The Supremacy Sun as the entire tribute to summon The Divinity Sun!"

A large portal opened up behind Principle Mackenzie to reveal a large golden pyramid with a floating capstone. A beam of light shot down from the capstone and struck The Sun in the back. With a massive explosion of golden light, the wicked solar deity changed into his divine form. After that, the portal behind Mackenzie closed.

"In order for Divinity Sun to attack, I must discard one card from my hand." Principle Mackenzie announced. "So I discard Thousand-Eyed Ghost so that The Sun can attack Iofiel! Divine Ray!"

A massive beam of golden light shot forth from the center of The Sun's chest and instantly vaporized Iofiel. The beam continued on and struck Reggie, knocking her to the ground. When the attack ended, Reggie's life points had fallen to 1600.

"It's not too late to save yourself, Reggie." Principle Mackenzie told her. "Surrender and join me, and together we can reign supreme in the glorious new age of Zott as father and daughter."

"And just what kind of twisted age are you and Electra trying to create?" Atticus demanded to know.

"It will be an age where the human race will learn new ways of pleasure and destruction!" Mackenzie declared. "And once Lord Zott revives, I shall reign as his high priest! There is no greater honor, and that glory can be yours too, Reggie. All you have to do is end this duel and join me."

"You really have become twisted." Reggie responded with hate-filled eyes as she rose to her feet. "I'd never join a monster like you or that woman!"

"So be it. This duel shall be your end." Principle Mackenzie replied. "I end my turn!"

Suddenly The Divinity Sun rose backward into the air and disappeared behind a mass of thick dark clouds. Soon after, Pyramid Turtle and Thousand-Eyed Ghost appeared on the battlefield.

"Huh? What just happened?" a confused Sheila wondered. "Why did Principle Mackenzie's monster vanish and those two undead monsters appear?"

"At the end of each of my turns, The Divinity Sun sends itself to the Graveyard to signal the fall of night." Principle Mackenzie explained. "When that happens, I can summon two other monsters from my Graveyard in Defense Mode."

"A 4000 ATK monster that goes to the Graveyard and replaces itself with two weak monsters?" Sheila spoke with a raised eyebrow. "Weird."

"There's probably more to Mackenzie's monster than we know about." Jaden pointed out.

"One thing's for sure, Mackenzie's left himself a pretty good wall to hide behind." Yubel observed. "Pyramid Turtle and Thousand-Eyed Ghost can both replace themselves with other monsters from the deck."

Reggie drew her next card. "First I activate the Spell, Pot of Greed and draw two more cards. Then I activate Monster Reborn and summon Iofiel from the Graveyard!" The destroyed angelic warrior reappeared on the battlefield. "Now I sacrifice both Iofiel and Shatiel to summon my strongest monster! Descend to the field, Splendid Venus!"

A pillar of golden light that shot up from the ground quickly consumed both of Reggie's monsters. The light quickly faded to reveal a familiar four-winged angel clad in robes of golden armor. Splendid Venus gave off a golden light that illuminated the battlefield.

"Venus, destroy Thousand-Eyed Ghost!" Reggie commanded. "Holy Feather Shower!"

Venus flapped her wings and sent a barrage of white feathers towards the other side of the battlefield. Thousand-Eyed Ghost was struck by the barrage and exploded in a flash of white light.

"When Thousand-Eyed Ghost is sent to the Graveyard, I can summon a monster of level four or below from my deck!" Principle Mackenzie announced. "I summon a second Thousand-Eyed Ghost in Defense Mode!" A second floating ball of eyes wrapped in bandages appeared on the battlefield.

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Reggie announced.

Suddenly a ray of golden light came down from the sky and shined on Principle Mackenzie's side of the battlefield. Both Thousand-Eyed Ghost and Pyramid Turtle caught on fire and burned to ash. The Divinity Sun came down from the light of hover above the field. At the same time, Principle Mackenzie glowed with a golden aura and his life points rose to 5000.

"No way! The Divinity Sun is back?" a shocked Atticus exclaimed.

"And it destroyed Principle Mackenzie's two monsters!" Tabitha observed.

"What is this?" Reggie demanded to know.

"At the beginning of each of my turns, The Divinity Sun rises from the Graveyard to signal the dawn." Principle Mackenzie explained. "When that happens, The Sun's divine light burns away the creatures of the night that exist on my side of the field, and I gain life points equal to their combined original ATK. Also, since Thousand-Eyed Ghost was sent to the Graveyard, I now summon Royal Keeper from the deck in Defense Mode to take its place."

Appearing on Mackenzie's side of the battlefield was a slender Egyptian mummy with a broken gold mask that revealed the left side of its decaying face. In its bony hands it carried a simple spear and a golden shield.

"I now activate a Continuous Trap, Blessings of the Sun!" Principle Mackenzie announced. "Once during a turn when a Ritual Monster is summoned from the Graveyard, I can draw two more cards from my deck. Now I discard Lich Lord, King of the Underworld to allow The Divinity Sun to attack Splendid Venus! Divine Ray!"

"I activate a Trap, Negate Attack!" Reggie quickly announced. "Venus isn't going anywhere!"

The Sun fired another beam of golden light from his chest. But before it could hit, the beam was sucked into a vortex that appeared in front Venus.

Principle Mackenzie smirked. "It seems you've bought yourself a little more time. I'll end my turn here. With the end of my turn, The Sun sets and I summon Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost in his place."

The Sun rose backwards into the sky and vanished behind a mass of dark clouds. After the solar deity vanished, Thousand-Eyed Ghost and a brown skeleton with black-feathered wings and a red hooded cloak appeared on the battlefield.

Reggie drew her next card. "Splendid Venus, attack Lich Lord! Holy Feather Shower!"

"I activate a Continuous Trap, Ever-Living Undead!" Principle Mackenzie announced. "While this card is on the field, Zombie-type monsters can't be destroyed in battle!"

Venus flapped her wings and showered Mackenzie's side of the battlefield with a barrage of white feathers. The feather storm stuck Lich Lord and began to explode in flashes of white light. But when the attack ended, the living skeleton was intact, though smoke was rising from his body.

"This is a pretty good strategy Mackenzie has set up." Yubel remarked to Jaden. "Each time that sun god of his leaves the field, it replaces itself with a pair of monsters that Mackenzie can use with a wall. And now thanks to Ever-Living Undead, that wall is practically indestructible."

"Yeah, and when Mackenzie starts his turn, Divinity Sun comes back and destroys those wall monsters to give his wall a major boost." Jaden added. "Plus he can use Thousand-Eyed Ghost to give himself an extra monster for the next time The Sun comes back.

"Not only that, Blessings of the Sun lets him draw extra cards to reload his hand, making sure that The Sun can attack." Yubel added. "And The Sun's discard cost allows him load his Graveyard with more monsters he can use as a wall and boost his life points."

"The whole time, Mackenzie's life points keep getting higher." Jaden finished. "Which makes him a lot harder to beat. I'm not sure how Reggie can get out of this."

"It's not a strategy without weakness." Yubel pointed out. "All those extra draws and deck summons means there's a chance he could run out of cards. Or The Divinity Sun could get removed from the duel. The problem is I'm not sure Reggie can last long enough for either of those things to happen."

"I set one card on the field and end my turn!" Reggie announced.

A ray of golden light shined down onto Mackenzie's side of the battlefield and incinerated his three monsters. The Divinity Sun descended to the battlefield and Principle Mackenzie shined with a golden aura as his life points rose to 9800.

"With the destruction of Thousand-Eyed Ghost, I summon a second Royal Keeper from my deck in Defense Mode!" Principle Mackenzie announced. A second spear-carrying mummy in a broken golden mask appeared on the field. "I activate the effect of Blessings of the Sun and draw two more cards! Now I discard Three-Eyed Ghost so that Divinity Sun can attack Splendid Venus! Divine Ray!"

"I activate my Trap, Waboku!" Reggie announced. "During this turn, Venus can't be destroyed and I take no damage from this battle!"

The Sun fired another intense beam of light at Venus. But a barrier of multicolored light blocked the attack.

"Well played, you're only postponing the inevitable." Principle Mackenzie confidently told her. "Despite your struggles, there is no way you can stand against my supreme power. Eventually you will meet your doom."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Originally, I had planned for Reggie and Atticus to team up and duel Principle Mackenzie together. But I couldn't decide on what deck Atticus would use. I had a hard enough time figuring out how Principle Mackenzie's strategy in the duel was going to work. Plus tag duels and asymmetrical duels are kind of a pain to write. So I just decided to have Reggie take on her father by herself.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	15. The Completed Card

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 15: The Completed Card

"I set one card on the field and end my turn." Principle Mackenzie announced. "With the end of my turn, The Sun returns to the Graveyard to bring the night. And to take his place, I summon Thousand-Eyed Ghost and Lich Lord, King of the Underworld."

The Divinity Sun rose back up into the sky and vanished behind thick dark clouds. Soon after, Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost materialized on the battlefield to take his place.

Reggie drew her next card. "I activate the Spell, Card of Sanctity! Now we both draw until we both have six cards in our hands."

"Trying to reinforce your hand, eh?" Principle Mackenzie observed. "You must be desperate."

"With Splendid Venus on the field, I activate the Spell card, War Goddess Light!" Reggie announced. "With this card, I add the Spell, Awakening of Ishtar and the monster it summons to my hand! Now I activate Awakening of Ishtar and sacrifice Splendid Venus to summon her ancient form! Awaken… Splendid Ishtar!"

Four ornate torches appeared on the ground around Venus and blasted her with four streams of flames. Venus exploded in a blast of golden light, causing pieces of her armor to fly off into the distance. The light quickly faded to reveal Venus' ancient war goddess form.

"Reggie still has that card?" a surprised Jaden observed.

"I guess the Splendid Ishtar card was purified when you used Sword of the Supreme King to defeat it." Yubel assumed. "Either way, it looks like Reggie might've found a way to defeat Divinity Sun."

"I set two cards on the field and end my turn." Reggie announced.

"And with the start of my turn, The Sun rises!" Principle Mackenzie announced as he drew his next card.

A ray of golden light shined down on Mackenzie's side of the field and incinerated Lich Lord and Thousand-Eyed Ghost. The clouds above parted and The Divinity Sun descended towards the battlefield.

"I activate Ishtar's effect!" Reggie quickly announced. "Since I used Venus to summon her, Ishtar can negate the Special Summoning of a monster and inflict 800 points of damage!"

"I'm afraid not!" Principle Mackenzie responded. "I activate the Trap, Divine Wrath! I discard one card from my hand to stop Ishtar's effect and destroy her!"

The green gem on the front of Ishtar's helmet began to glow. But before she could fire her beam at The Sun, a bolt of red lightning came down from the sky and struck Ishtar. In seconds the ancient war goddess was vaporized.

"Did you really think that a move like that would work, Reggie?" an amused Principle Mackenzie asked. "I knew that sooner or later that you would try and strike at The Sun when he was most vulnerable by canceling out his own summoning."

"And I knew you'd try to counter, dad." Reggie responded. "I activate a Trap, Final Ritual Duel!"

Suddenly a ball of white light flared to life in the center of the battlefield and washed out everything in a massive explosion. The light faded after a moment all of the monsters that had been on the field were gone.

"What… what is this?" a surprised and confused Principle Mackenzie asked.

"When a Ritual Monster I control is destroyed by a card effect while my opponent also has a Ritual Monster on the field, Final Ritual Duel forces us both to banish every monster in our hands, decks, and Graveyards." Reggie explained. "Then we each summon a Ritual Monster from those banished cards, and they're forced to do battle. The player with the last Ritual Monster standing wins the duel."

"I see. So it comes down to a battle between your Ritual Monster and mine." An amused Principle Mackenzie observed.

"Return to the field, Splendid Ishtar!" Reggie commanded. In a dazzling flash of golden light, Ishtar reappeared on the battlefield.

"Arise… Divinity Sun!" Principle Mackenzie ordered. A beam of gold light shot up from behind Principle Mackenzie, clearing to reveal The Sun.

"Thanks to Ishtar's effect, Divinity Sun loses 1000 ATK." Reggie pointed out to her father. "Which makes Ishtar's 3400 ATK just strong enough to defeat you."

"How shortsighted of you." Principle Mackenzie responded. "Did you think that I wouldn't have a counterstrategy to this as well? From the Graveyard, I activate the secondary effect of Divine Prominence! By banishing this Spell from the Graveyard, The Sun's ATK is doubled until the end of the turn!"

"I knew you'd try to counter Ishtar's other effect too." Reggie revealed. "I activate my other face-down card, Reverse Trap! This card reverses the power-up effect of Divine Prominence! Which means that The Sun's ATK becomes zero!"

"What?" a shocked Principle Mackenzie exclaimed.

"This ends now!" Reggie declared. "Ishtar, destroy The Divinity Sun! Divine Feather Strike!"

Ishtar flapped her wings and pelted The Sun with a barrage of glowing feathers. In moments The Sun exploded in a blinding flash of white light. Principle Mackenzie's scream could be heard over the sound of the blast. The light faded and both Ishtar and The Sun had vanished from the field. Jaden and the others were surprised to find that Principle Mackenzie had vanished as well.

"Mac! You okay?" a concerned Atticus asked as he ran to Reggie's side.

"Yeah, I think so." Reggie answered.

"What happened to Principle Mackenzie?" Sheila wondered. "Did he like run off or something?"

"I don't think so." Jaden replied. "Looks like there was a lot more at stake in that duel than we thought."

Before anyone could respond, everyone noticed a massive beam of white light shooting into the sky from the academy roof. Jaden and the others began to hear the evil laugh of a familiar voice being carried through the air.

"Electra!" Jaden identified. "Looks like she's finally made her move. We better get going now!"

The others nodded and the group quickly ran into the school. They quickly made their way up the steps towards the roof. Upon their arrival, Jaden and the others saw Electra waiting for them alone. She had on a long black skirt that opened a bit in the front to reveal her bare tan legs and a pair of silver sandals on her feet. The bluenette also wore a black armored bra with silver trim and a piece of black armor over her right shoulder. On her left arm was a black duel disk, and covering her forehead was a silver tiara was a red diamond-shaped gem in the center. Hanging from Electra's neck by a silver chain was a medallion shaped like the emblem of Zott.

"I see you were able to make it after all, Supreme King." Electra greeted. "But then my high priest did have doubts about the assassin I sent after you. No matter. This way I can personally get my revenge against you."

"What did I ever do to you?" Jaden demanded to know. "Just what is all this about, Electra?"

"Don't remember, eh?" Electra observed. "Well I can't say that I blame you. It has been a little over seven thousand years, after all. While I've always maintained this gorgeous body of mine, you've been reincarnated as the pathetic little boy now standing before me."

"So this has something to do with my past life?" Jaden asked.

"Ages ago, the Divine Order of Zott flourished in a kingdom whose name has been lost to the sands of time." Electra began. "Our order reveled in days of endless pleasure and delight, pleasures that are far beyond the imaginations of mere mortals. In time, I began to spread Lord Zott's influence to the rest of the world. But then you arrived, the one whose power is the opposite of Lord Zott's. Using your power and that of the Primal Flame, you managed to defeat Lord Zott and plunged our order into ruin."

"So this has all been about getting back at me for that time?" Jaden assumed.

"Oh it's far more complicated then that." Electra replied. "For years I wandered the earth, searching for the right way to revive Lord Zott. Eventually I came to this academy and reestablished the order. Using the students and faculty here, I've collected many sacrifices and generated the required energy needed for the revival. And now at last, the time has finally come."

With that, Electra pulled out a card from her deck and presented it to Jaden and the others. It was a blue card, depicting a fanged demon with light-blue skin and curved horns. A golden plate in the shape of a sun covered its right eye.

"You mean… all this time, Zott's just been a Ritual Monster?" Atticus realized.

"One of the very first Ritual Monsters this world has ever known." Electra confirmed as she slipped the card back into her deck. "And after years of work, his card has finally been completed. The duel that little Reggie had with my high priest provided the last bit of energy I needed. All that's left is to conduct one final duel, and Lord Zott will finally live again."

"If you want a duel, you've got one!" Jaden declared as he stepped forward. "This madness ends now!"

"Very well." Electra agreed. "You'll make the perfect opponent for this duel. Lord Zott will be revived and get his revenge at the same time."

"We'll see about that!" Jaden declared.

"You won't be able to win this time." Electra told him with a confident smirk. "The sacrifices I've provided for Lord Zott shall grant him with more than enough power to oppose you and your Primal Flame. In fact there's one sacrifice in particular that I'm sure will give him the power to make you fall to your knees?"

"And just what sacrifice is that?" Jaden demanded to know.

"Oh… I think I'll keep that a surprise." Electra replied. "I want to see the look on your face when she's offered up to Lord Zott. She is someone quite close to you though."

A chill went down Jaden's spine. "You don't mean…"

"You'll just have to duel me to find out." Electra replied.

"If you've hurt her…!" Jaden began to warn.

"Jaden, do you know what this witch is talking about?" Atticus asked as the same realization hit him.

"Atticus just let me handle this!" Jaden told him.

"Seems I was able to get a rise out of fairly quickly." Electra observed. "This duel should be an easy victory for me."

"Jaden, don't let her get into your head." Yubel told as she reappeared. "If you do, it's all over."

"But… what if she really did somehow turn Alexis into a card?" Jaden quietly asked. "Like Sophie and all the others?"

"Then you'll just have to save her like you saved Sheila." Yubel answered. "I may not like Alexis all that much, but if anyone can save her it's you."

"Yeah… you're right." Jaden agreed. "If Electra really does have Alexis, then I'll get her back by taking out Electra and Zott once and for all!"

"Let us begin, shall we?" Electra suggested as she activated her duel disk.

Jaden activated his own duel disk in response. "Game on!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Apologies for a somewhat short chapter. It seems that I miscalculated how long it would take to wrap up the duel between Reggie and her father. I'll try and make up for it with the next chapter though. The main event is about to begin.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	16. Incarnation of Light

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 16: Incarnation of Light

"I'll let you go first, Jaden." Electra graciously decided. "I might as well give you the chance to prepare some kind of defense."

Jaden glared at Electra as he drew his first card. "I summon Elemental Hero Clayman in Defense Mode!" The stone-armored hero appeared on Jaden's side of the field. "Next I'll lay down a face-down and end my turn!"

Electra drew her first card. "I play the Field Spell, Domain of Rituals!"

In an instant the surroundings changed. But right away, Jaden and the others noticed that something was different. Instead of being in a grey wasteland, Jaden and his companions found that they were standing within a large walled enclosure of some kind. Towering above them was the same castle-like structure they had seen in the distance during the other times that the Field Spell had been played. And it seemed that they were now in the castle's courtyard.

"What's going on here?" Jaden asked as he looked around. "How come the area this Field Spell creates is different all of a sudden?"

"The Domain of Rituals is actually based on my homeland during the time of Lord Zott." Electra explained. "In your previous duels, the card only showed you the land surrounding the castle. But now that you're dueling me, the card has brought us to the castle of Lord Zott. Now then, I activate Final Ritual of the Ancients! I offer Sacrifice Maiden Maria from my hand to summon Reshef the Dark Being!"

Appearing on Electra's side of the battlefield was a young woman with short dark-blonde hair and dark-green eyes. She had on a white Roman-style dress and she looked like she was in some kind of trance. Appearing behind Maria was a large brown stone tablet. Glowing white marks appeared on the front of the stone depicting the shape of some kind of monster. The marks shot beams of white light at Maria and instantly vaporized her. The stone shattered apart and a column of golden light shot into the air.

The golden light faded, and appearing to hover behind Electra was a massive robot-like entity with a body made out of gold. It had five long rods projecting from the front of its head and shoulders. The entity had no legs, and a ball of yellow light connected the lower half of its body to its upper half. Its large left forearm was connected to its corresponding upper arm through a ball of red light, while a ball of blue light connected the two segments of its right arm. Reshef glowed briefly with a feint white aura as it appeared and its eyes flashed red.

"I've heard of this card before, but… this is the first time I've actually seen it." A somewhat amazed Reggie spoke from the sidelines.

"Reshef is another one of the world's first Ritual Monsters." Electra revealed. "A wicked being of light that desired ultimate power. Legends say that his lust for power was so great that he even tried to consume the power of the Egyptian Gods. It's said that Maximillion Pegasus personally created Reshef's card, but he only made a few copies because he feared that the monster might be the death of him."

"Am I supposed to be impressed by that?" Jaden impatiently asked.

"I just thought you should know what kind of power you're up against." Electra replied. "I activate Reshef's effect! Once per turn, I can discard a Spell card from my hand to take control of one of my opponent's monsters until the end of the turn. So I discard Shinato's Arc to allow Reshef to take control of Clayman."

Two beams of red energy shot down from Reshef's eyes and struck Clayman. With a flash of red light, Clayman teleported from Jaden's side of the battlefield over to Electra's.

"Wait a minute. Shinato's Arc is a Ritual Spell card." Tabitha observed. "Why would Electra discard a card that might give her such a huge advantage later on?"

"Maybe she didn't have anything else to discard." Sheila assumed.

"I activate the effect Reshef gained from Sacrifice Maiden Maria!" Electra announced. "By sacrificing one other monster I control, I can draw one more card from my deck."

Clayman turned into a ball of white light and flew up into the tip of the horn on Reshef's head. A ball of gold light flew down from the top of Reshef's body and struck the top card of Electra's deck.

Electra drew the card from her deck. "Reshef, attack the Supreme King directly!"

"I activate my face-down card, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" Jaden quickly announced. "This card lets me summon Winged Kuriboh from my deck!" Jaden's winged ball of brown fur appeared on the battlefield.

"Very well then." Electra responded. "Reshef, attack that pesky little ball of fluff! Radiance of Destruction!"

Reshef fired three blasts of light from the spheres connecting his body down at Winged Kuriboh. The winged hairball was vaporized in a single shot.

"I end my turn." Electra announced.

Jaden drew his next card. "I activate Polymerization! I fuse Elemental Hero Avian with Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Nova Master!"

Avian materialized on the battlefield along with a humanoid beetle-like creature with a mostly blue exoskeleton and a large horn on its head. Both monsters flew up into the small vortex that had appeared in the air. Emerging from the vortex moments later was Jaden's armored hero of flames.

"As powerful as Reshef is, he only has 2500 ATK." Jaden pointed out. "Which makes Nova Master a hundred points stronger! Nova Master, attack Reshef! Supreme Flame!"

Nova Master raised his arms forward and blasted Reshef with an intense stream of flames. The golden being exploded with a flash of gold light, and Electra's life points dropped slightly to 3900.

"I end my turn!" Jaden announced.

"That's the best you could do?" Electra remarked as she drew her first card. "I commend you for defeating Reshef, but I was expecting an attack with a little more force. Ah well. For my next move I discard my avatar, Demon Priestess Electra."

"Her avatar?" Atticus repeated with a quirked brow. "What does she mean by that?"

"I'm not sure we wanna know." Reggie replied.

"With my avatar's effect, I add a certain pair of cards to my hand." Electra continued. "But before I play one of those cards, I activate a Spell known as Sacrificial Preparations! By discarding a Spell card from my hand, I can summon five Sacrifice Maidens to the field! I call forth from my deck Sacrifice Maiden Sophie, Sacrifice Maiden Ronda, Sacrifice Maiden Ellen, Sacrifice Maiden Nichole, and Sacrifice Maiden Alexis!"

Five beams of white light shot from the ground in front of Electra. The beams of light quickly faded to reveal five young women. To the horror of both Jaden and Atticus, the young woman standing in the middle was Alexis. She had on an ice-blue Roman-style dress and she looked as if she was in some kind of trance. Sophie and Ronda were standing to Alexis' right. On her left was a young woman white short dark-blue hair that was Sacrifice Maiden Ellen. Next to Ellen was a young woman with long black hair tied in a braided ponytail that was Sacrifice Maiden Nichole.

"Oh my god!" Atticus exclaimed.

"No… Alexis!" Jaden called out as Electra began to laugh.

"If it makes you feel better, Alexis wasn't…'dominated' like the other Sacrifice Maidens." Electra revealed. "Her spirit was too strong for her to be prepared in that manner. So I had my high priest defeat her in a duel."

"Damn you!" Jaden cursed.

"The time has finally come." Electra declared. "I activate the Spell, Revival of Zott! Ordinarily I'd have to offer monsters whose total levels equaled ten or more. But I can also offer five Sacrifice Maidens for the Ritual! So I offer these five women to revive Zott, Demon God of Light!"

The emblem of Zott appeared in the center of the battlefield as lines of white light. Alexis and the other four girls moved to each of the five points of the symbol. Jaden and the others watched in horror as the five were reduced to sparks of white electrical energy. A pillar of white light shot from the center of the emblem into the sky. Moments later a massive bolt of white lightning came down and struck the ground behind Electra.

The energy died down, and standing behind Electra was a massive demonic entity with pale-blue skin. It had long narrow arms and legs with hands and feet tipped with gold claws. On the sides of its head were curled golden horns. The beast's face had a large mouth filled with fangs. Its left eye was completely red while its right eye was covered by a gold plate shaped like the sun. It had a long whip-like tail with a golden spear tip on the end, and its upper torso was covered in white armor with gold trim. Engraved in the center of the demon's chest plate in gold was the emblem of Zott, with a ruby gemstone acting in the center of the eye.

"Ah… at long last I live again." The creature spoke. "You have done very well, Electra."

"I am your eternal instrument, Lord Zott." Electra replied.

Zott glanced down and noticed Jaden. "Well, well. We meet again, Supreme King. You've changed quite a bit since we faced each other last."

"That… that thing can talk?" a stunned Sheila observed.

"You bastard!" Atticus cursed, getting Zott's attention. "What the hell are you?"

"That is a question worthy of answer." Zott replied. "I am an incarnation of what you call the Light of Destruction. I was born ages ago in a kingdom whose name has long forgotten by the human race. The people of that kingdom wished to perform a ritual that would bring to life a creature that they wished to use to destroy a rival kingdom. To perform the ritual, they chose to use a young servant girl of the king as the offering."

"I was the offering for that ritual." Electra interjected.

"Many of the people in that kingdom had gathered together to watch the sacrifice." Zott continued. "But at the exact moment the ritual began, a ray from the Light of the Destruction struck the kingdom right where the rite was being performed. In that moment, I came into being. Rather than my dear Electra being the one sacrificed to give me life, the lives of every man, woman, and child was used."

"In that instant, I was completely reborn." Electra added. "My body was transformed and my mind was opened to the truth of humanity's nature."

"Once I came into being, I made Electra my high priestess so that I could spread my influence across the globe." Zott finished.

"I don't care what the hell either of you are." Jaden declared in a low hate-filled voice. "Before this duel's over, I'm going to kill you!"

At this, Zott chuckled. "Well now, and just what has you so vengeful?"

"I used the woman he loved as one of the offerings to bring you back, my lord." Electra explained. "Of course he never had the chance to admit his true feelings for her."

"Is that so?" an amused Zott replied. "It seems you've grown quite pathetic over the centuries, Supreme King. Hardly what I'd expect from the being who's supposed to be my opposite."

"We are still in the middle of a duel." Electra reminded Jaden. "Now then, let me explain the effects Lord Zott has in this game. Because of his own power, all non-Ritual Monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF. With the powers gained from Sophie and Ronda, Lord Zott cannot be destroyed in battle and can attack twice during each turn. And thanks to the power he gained from Nichole, my opponent can't activate Spell or Trap cards until after Lord Zott's attack ends."

"How's Jaden supposed to beat a monster with that many effects?" Sheila wondered.

"This is the forbidden power granted by the Sacrifice Maidens." Tabitha remarked with a sad expression. "To think that I used that power."

"Hey! Don't get down on yourself." Sheila told her. "You only did that stuff because that witch messed with your head."

"Or perhaps I only exposed her true dark desires." Electra interrupted. "Now then, I call upon Lord Zott to attack Elemental Hero Nova Master!"

"Light of Divine Darkness!" Zott called as he reared back his head.

From his mouth, Zott fired a massive beam of white light at Nova Master. As the beam traveled through the air, the colors of everything in the surrounding space became inverted. The beam vaporized Nova Master and the colors of the space returned to normal. Jaden's life points dropped to 2400.

"Because of the effect Lord Zott gained from Nichole, my opponent has to send the top two cards of his deck to the Graveyard each time Lord Zott inflicts damage." Electra revealed. "At the same time, another of Lord Zott's own effects activates."

Suddenly appearing in the spot where Nova Master once stood was a young woman with blue skin and long dark-blue hair. She had golden eyes and wore a skimpy white dress. Growing from her forehead were two small blue horns.

"What's this?" Jaden asked.

"When Lord Zott destroys a monster, he summons a Wicked Offering Token to my opponent's side of the field in Defense Mode." Electra explained. "Now, watch what happens when that token is destroyed. My lord!"

"Light of Divine Darkness!" Zott called again as he launched another attack, inverting the color of the space.

The demonic-looking token monster was vaporized by the blast of light and the color of the space returned to normal again. Suddenly Electra glowed with a white aura and her life points rose to 5900.

"Thanks to the power Lord Zott gained from your dear Alexis, whenever he destroys a monster in Defense Mode I gain life points equal to that monster's DEF." Electra revealed. "But more importantly, Lord Zott can use his other effect now activates. Since a Wicked Offering Token was destroyed, I can banish a Ritual Spell from my Graveyard to bring forth the monster that Spell summons from my hand. So I banish Shinato's Arc to summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!"

Zott began chanting something in a strange profane language as he raised his right claw. A large ball of white light formed in the palm of the demon god's claw. The ball shot from Zott's claw and struck the ground on the demon's left, creating a pillar of white light. The light faded to reveal a large angelic figure with six large gold-feathered wings. The creature looked like a living statue of a Japanese deity.

"That's why Electra discarded Shinato's Arc before?" Reggie realized. "So she could use it to summon Shinato with Zott's effect?"

"Fortunately for you, Supreme King, Shinato can't attack this turn since he was summoned by Lord Zott's power." Electra revealed. "So I'll set one card on the field and end my turn."

"Zott truly is a formidable monster." Tabitha observed. "With his power, Electra can summon Ritual Monster without having to sacrifice other monsters."

"That, my darling Tabitha, is because Lord Zott personifies the true nature of Ritual Monsters." Electra explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?" a skeptical Reggie asked.

"Deep down, all human beings are depraved." Zott responded. "I should know, as I am the creation of humanity's dark desires. But I am not the only one. Ritual Monsters are the symbol of the human race's dark desires. They used dark magic and made forbidden pacts all to create monsters to further their own desires. My existence and the existence of all Ritual Monsters is proof of this. When this duel is over, my light shall reveal humanity's true nature to itself and return them to their true state."

"You're wrong, Zott!" Jaden suddenly spoke. "Maybe there are some Ritual Monsters out there who were created by people with evil desires, but there are others who were created by good desires too! The desire to protect!"

"Oh really?" Zott scoffed. "Do you honestly believe that good can truly come from such power?"

"I'll prove it by showing you one of those monsters right now?" Jaden declared as he drew his next card. The card he drew gave off a feint black aura. "I activate the Spell, O-Oversoul! With this card, I summon one of the monsters sent to the Graveyard by Zott's deck destruction effect! Elemental Hero Neos!"

A circle of blue flames appeared on the ground in front of Jaden. Soon after in the middle of the ring off fire, Neos appeared with a flash of white light.

"Now I activate Primal Awakening and add Rite of the Primal Flame and the monster it summons to my hand!" Jaden announced as the flames around Neos subsided. "Now I activate Rite of the Primal Flame and sacrifice Neos to summon Primal Neos!"

Two ornate torches appeared to each side of Neos and shot fireballs into the gem on the hero's chest. Neos was enveloped in a pillar of flames, which subsided to reveal the hero in his ancestral form.

"Zott only has 3700 ATK." Atticus recalled. "Which means that if Primal Neos attacked Zott, his power up effect would make him just strong enough to beat him."

"Except Zott can't be destroyed in battle thanks to the effect he gained from Sophie." Reggie pointed out.

"So this barbarian hero is the type of monster you speak of." Zott observed. "The power of the Primal Flame may have defeated me in the distant past, but thanks to the power I've gained from those young maidens I am immortal. I have the true power that a Ritual Monster can possess. Your Ritual Monster is nothing more than a weakling."

"Maybe, but he can still beat Shinato!" Jaden pointed out. "Neos! Take down Shinato with Primal Wrath!'

"I activate a Trap, Sacrificial Shield!" Electra suddenly announced.

Just as Neos was about the leap into the air to attack Shinato, Alexis suddenly reappeared on the battlefield. She was chained to a wooden pole in front of Zott and Shinato. Her face still had a vacant expression.

"What… what is this?" an unsettled Jaden asked.

"Sacrificial Shield let's me summon a Sacrifice Maiden from the Graveyard." Electra explained. "Now the only monster you can attack is your dear Alexis. Of course you could go ahead and attack her. But then there's no telling what might happen to her if you do. You might end up actually killing her, making her soul irretrievable."

"Jaden, you can't take the risk of harming Alexis!" Atticus told him.

"I know." Jaden replied. "I equip Neos with Shield of the Supreme King and end my turn!"

Appearing on Primal Neos' left arm was a black circular shield with a red demonic eye on the front. Four fin-like blades projected out from the shield's rim.

"Lord Zott and I will try and make your end quick." Electra spoke as she drew her next card. "I activate a Spell called Blessings of the Dark Gods! With this Spell I can draw a card for each Ritual Monster on the field. And since there are three, I can draw three new cards. Now I activate the Spell known as Fulfillment of the Contract! By paying 800 life points, I can summon Reshef the Dark Being from the Graveyard!"

Electra's life points dropped slightly to 5100. Soon after, a pillar of golden light shot up from the ground to Zott's left. The light faded and Reshef reappeared to hover beside Zott.

"This is not good!" a concerned Atticus declared. "With Reshef back, that witch can take control of Neos and swarm Jaden."

"I activate Reshef's effect!" Electra announced. "By discarding a Spell card from my hand, Reshef can take control of Neos!"

"I activate the effect of Shield of the Supreme King!" Jaden quickly announced. "Once per turn, I can send a card from my deck to the Graveyard to negate the effect of an opponent's monster!"

Reshef shot a pair of red beams from his eyes. Neos quickly raised his shield and the beams entered the demonic eye on the shield's front.

"Well played." Electra praised. "But a pointless move either way. Lord Zott, I call upon you to attack Neos!"

"Light of Divine Darkness!" Zott called out as he fired another blast from his mouth.

The intense beam of white light headed strait down at Neos. The primal hero raised his shield and blocked the attack. The blades on the rim of the shield spun as the beam hit it. When the attack ended, Jaden's life points dropped to 1950.

"What's this?" Zott asked with a quirked brow. "Why is that barbarian still alive?"

"As long as Primal Neos is equipped with Shield of the Supreme King, he can't be destroyed in battle." Jaden explained. "Not only that, any battle damage I'd take is cut in half."

"Well then, if I can't kill that barbarian monster I can at least inflict more pain!" Zott responded as he prepared for another attack. "Light of Divine Darkness!"

The demon god fired another intense blast of light from his mouth. Neos raised his shield and withstood the attack. Jaden's life points dropped further to 1500.

"Shinato, attack Primal Neos!" Electra commanded. "Divine Judgment!"

Shinato pointed his index finger down at Neos and fired a bolt of gold lightning from the tip. The bolt of lightning hit the front of the shield, protecting Neos from destruction. Jaden's life points dropped to 1250.

"I'll end my turn there." Electra announced. "Go ahead and make your next move. But now that Lord Zott is immortal and that girl is being used as a shield, there's nothing you can do. You might as well surrender and make things easier on yourself."

Jaden drew his next card, hoping to get something that could turn the situation around. Though he couldn't think of a single card in his deck that could do that. Looking at the card he just drew, Jaden saw that he had gotten Super Polymerization.

Yubel sighed heavily as she appeared next to him. "Looks like you just drew the one card that can help get Alexis out of harm's way."

"Wait, do you mean…?" Jaden quietly began to ask.

"It's our only option at this point." Yubel replied. "You can use Shield of the Supreme King to bring me to the field."

"But… are you sure?" Jaden asked.

"Believe me, I wouldn't be suggesting this if there wasn't any other way." Yubel answered. "Looks like Alexis and I are going to get to know one another. Just do it and get it over with."

Jaden nodded and turned his attention back to the duel. "I activate another effect of Shield of the Supreme King! By sending the shield to the Graveyard, I can summon Yubel to the field!"

Neos threw his shield to the ground, causing it to shatter and explode with a small burst of black energy. Suddenly Jaden's eyes began to glow orange and teal, and a large shadow stretched from his feet onto the battlefield. Rising from the end of the shadow was a humanoid demon with eyes glowing in the same colors as Jaden's, and a third more demonic-looking eye on her forehead. The skin on its face, parts of its torso, and the bicep of its right upper arm were bright purple, while the rest of its body was mostly black. The demon had a pair of large bat-like wings, and it had a head of long shaggy hair that was white on the left side and dark-blue on the right.

"You gave up your barbarian's near-perfect defense to summon that pathetic creature?" an amused Zott asked.

"You're not such hot stuff either, fang face." Yubel retorted.

"What the… now Jaden's monster is talking?" a surprised Sheila asked.

"Do you really expect Lord Zott and I to be foolish enough to attack that guardian of yours?" Electra scoffed.

"I activate Super Polymerization!" Jaden announced. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can fuse Yubel with a monster my opponent controls!"

"Just what are you trying to accomplish?" Electra asked. "Are you planning to try and merge your guardian with Lord Zott?"

"That would actually be an improvement over what I'm actually going to be merged with." Yubel responded.

"The monster I'm fusing Yubel with is Sacrifice Maiden Alexis!" Jaden announced.

"What?" a stunned Electra exclaimed.

"He's fusing Yubel with my sister?" an equally shocked Atticus responded.

A massive vortex suddenly appeared in the sky above the battlefield. Yubel flew across the battlefield and slashed the chains binding Alexis to the post with her claws. The demon then grabbed Alexis and flew into the air with her towards the vortex. Jaden and the others watched as Yubel and Alexis entered the center of the fusion storm. Seconds after they vanished from view, the vortex exploded with a flash of golden light. The energy from the explosion died down and a ray of white light shined down onto the battlefield.

Descending towards the field was Yubel in a new form. Her appearance had become fully female and her right wing had become covered in white feathers. The purple parts of her body had become light blue, while the black parts had turned white. The right side of her shaggy head of hair had become blonde, while the left side had turned black. Yubel had on a two-piece dress made of glittering gold fabric consisting of a short skirt and a low-cut shirt that showed her midriff. Covering the upper half of Yubel's face was an ornate golden mask.

"Say hello to Fallen Angel Yubel!" Jaden announced as Yubel softly landed on the ground. "And now that she's on the field, you and Zott are as good as finished!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Early in the planing stages of this duel I had decided that Electra would use at least one other Ritual Monster besides Zott. I went with Reshef the Dark Being because it was a Light monster, and both Electra and Zott are connected to the Light of Destruction. I was aware of Reshef from the non-cannon Capsule Monsters arc of the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, but I had ended up looking into Reshef's role in the Reshef of Destruction game for the Gameboy Advance. I may revisit the concept behind Reshef for a future GX story.

As for Zott, I had a real challenge coming up with his stats and effects. Let alone the effects he was going to gain from all those Sacrifice Maidens. I actually got the idea for Zott's name from this old mummy movie I saw one Saturday afternoon when I was like twelve or thirteen. There was a flashback scene where these Egyptian priests were chanting the name of a deity they called Zot. Of course this was an Egyptian god that was pretty much made up (though I could've misheard the name). I remembered that scene when I was trying to come up with the main monster for this story, and the name just kind of stuck. Of course I added an extra T to the spelling.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	17. Duel Within a Duel

**Author's Note:** Remember a few chapters ago when I ran Jaden and Alexis' duels with David and Principle Mackenzie at the same time? The same kind of thing is going to happen again in this chapter. Let's just say the title delivers what it promises.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 17: Duel Within a Duel

Alexis awoke and found that she was in a vast red and black expanse that looked like outer space. There was no ground beneath her, yet it felt like she was lying on something solid. As she got up, Alexis found that she was wearing her old Obelisk Blue uniform from her academy days. Alexis tried to recall how she had ended up in that space. The last thing she remembered was losing a duel with Principle Mackenzie, but everything was a blank after that.

"About time you woke up." A voice spoke from behind in an impatient tone. Alexis turned to see Yubel standing a few feet away.

"What the… Yubel?" A surprised Alexis responded. "What's going on here? Is this some kind of weird dream?"

"I wish." Yubel replied. "Here's the short version of what's going on. After you lost your duel to that psycho principle you were turned into a Duel Monsters card. That slut of an assistant principle ended up with your card and used you in a duel against Jaden to revive an incarnation of the Light of Destruction. Then you were summoned back to the field so you could be used as a shield. The only way to save you was for Jaden to use Super Polymerization to fuse the two of us together."

"So… what does that make this place then?" Alexis asked.

"I guess in a way you could call this a dream." Yubel admitted. "This is a space where our minds can meet and speak with one another. And now that we have this time together to talk, you and I need to come to an understanding."

"An understanding about what?" Alexis asked.

"About Jaden." Yubel answered. "You still have feelings for him, right?"

"I don't really see how that's any of your business." Alexis told her.

"Jaden and I are two halves of the same being, so it is kind of my business." Yubel retorted. "Plus you and I are now a whole lot closer now. So you might as well come clean with me."

"And what if I do have feelings for him?" Alexis asked. "It doesn't really matter now. Things have just gotten too different between us."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Yubel responded.

"I think you can figure it out." Alexis told her.

Yubel gave a heavy sigh and ran her hand over her face. "This is getting us nowhere. The way I see it, there's only one way for us to settle this."

With that, Yubel raised her left arm in front of her chest. A brown organic duel disk suddenly grew from her forearm.

"You're challenging me to a duel?" Alexis realized.

"If you can beat me, I'll find you worthy of Jaden's heart." Yubel told her. "The way I see it, this is the only way for the two of us to come to an understanding. So do you accept, or are you too afraid?"

"I never back down from a challenge!" Alexis responded as she raised her own left arm. Her regular duel disk appeared on her arm. "I'll take you on!"

With that, the two of them activated their duel disks and prepared to face off. Both of them quickly drew their opening hands.

"Since I'm the one who's dominant in our fusion, I'll go first." Yubel announced as she drew her first card. "First I play a Continuous Spell known as Test of Devoted Love."

Appearing on Yubel's side of the battlefield was the large representation of a Spell card. Depicted on the card's illustration was a young man pushing a young woman out of the way as a bolt of blue lightning came down towards them from the sky.

"Test of Devoted Love?" Alexis repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"While this card is on the field, neither of us can control more than one monster at a time." Yubel explained. "At the start of each of our turns, we either have to pay 800 life points or the monster we control is destroyed. But I'm not done yet. I also play a Continuous Spell called Curse of Loneliness."

Another large Spell card appeared on Yubel's side of the field. This one depicted a young man standing over a grave as snow came down around him.

"While this card is on the field, we each take 800 points of damage at the start of our turns if we don't have a monster out." Yubel explained.

"So either way, we both lose 800 life points at the start of each of our turns." Alexis realized.

"Not necessarily." Yubel replied with a smirk. "I summon Mystic Tomato in Defense Mode and end my turn!" A large red tomato with a face like a jack-o-lantern appeared on the battlefield.

"Then it's my move!" Alexis declared as she drew her first card.

"Which means the effect of Curse of Loneliness kicks in and takes you down 800 life points!" Yubel announced.

Suddenly a purple shadowy mass appeared at Alexis' feet and wrapped itself around her. Alexis felt a freezing cold throughout her entire body that was so intense that it made her fall to her knees. Her life points dropped to 3200.

"Loneliness hurts, doesn't it?" Yubel asked. "I should know, since I felt it for years before Jaden and I were reunited."

Alexis got back to her feet. "I activate the Spell card, Ritual Sanctuary! By discarding one Spell card, I can add a Ritual Spell to my hand! Now I activate Machine Angel Ritual and sacrifice Cyber Prima from my hand to summon Cyber Angel-Benten!"

A massive caldron of flames appeared behind Alexis. Alexis' red masked ballet dancer appeared above the caldron and was consumed by the flames. A fireball shot out of the caldron and struck the battlefield before transforming into Benten.

"Benten, attack Mystic Tomato!" Alexis commanded. "Angelic Turn!"

The masked woman leapt into the air and threw her fan down at Yubel's monster. The wicked vegetable was sliced in half down the middle. Both halves quickly shattered into bits of light and faded away.

"And now Benten's effect activates!" Alexis announced. "When she destroys a monster in battle, my opponent takes damage equal to that monster's DEF!"

Benten pulled back her chained fan and threw it again at Yubel. The demon was struck in the chest and her life points dropped to 2900.

"Not bad." Yubel praised. "But since Mystic Tomato was destroyed in battle, I can summon a Dark monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck. And the monster I choose to summon… is me."

A long shadow stretched out from Yubel's feet onto the battlefield. Rising out of the end of the shadow was an exact duplicate of Yubel.

"I guess I'll end my turn." Alexis decided.

Yubel drew her next card. "At this point, the effect of Test of Devoted Love kicks in. Now I either have to pay 800 life points or my doppelganger gets destroyed. But I'm not in love with myself that much."

A bolt of blue lightning came down from above and struck Yubel's clone. All but the eye on the forehead of the second Yubel was vaporized. Suddenly the eye grew in size and shot out black tendrils that quickly formed into a large mass. The mass quickly took a solid shape, becoming a muscular demon with a black body and purple chest. Yubel's original eye acted as the demon's face, and its legs had two sets of joints. Growing from the demon's shoulders were two dragon-like heads with long necks.

"When my first form is destroyed by a card effect, I'm able to summon my second." Yubel explained. "Meet Yubel-Terror Incarnate."

"I get it. This way you can get around the cost of Test of Devoted Love and put me at a big disadvantage." Alexis observed.

"More importantly, I'm able to bring out my evolved forms much faster." Yubel corrected. "I can't really attack in my second form, so I'll just set one card on the field and end my turn. And at the end of my turn, the effect of my second form kicks in and destroys all other monsters on the field."

Suddenly a black whirlwind appeared around Terror Incarnate and quickly expanded outward. The expanding twister struck Benten and shattered her into bits of light. The twister continued to expand before hitting Alexis and knocking her to her back.

"Winning this duel's going to be a piece of cake." Yubel confidently declared.

* * *

"I end my turn!" Jaden announced in his duel with Electra.

"Then it's time for you to meet your doom." Electra declared as she drew her next card.

"We don't need to bother with Reshef's effect." Zott told her. "Let's just put the Supreme King out of his misery."

"As you command, my lord." Electra replied.

"Say goodbye to your barbarian hero!" Zott told Jaden as he reared back his head for another attack. "Light of Divine Darkness!"

Just as the demon god breathed out another massive beam of light, the eyes of Fallen Angel Yubel began to glow. Suddenly the light curved and struck Yubel. The fallen angel was unharmed and Jaden began to glow with a white aura as his life points rose to 3100. Soon after, Zott's body suddenly began to turn grey.

"What's… what's going on?" a startled Zott asked. "What's happening to me?"

"My lord?" a concerned Electra responded.

"As long as Fallen Angel Yubel is on the field, my opponent can't attack any other monsters." Jaden explained. "I gain life points equal to half the ATK of any monster that attacks Yubel, and any monster that attacks her loses its effects. That includes the effects Zott gained from those Sacrifice Maidens!"

"Damn you!" Zott cursed.

"That's not the only thing that happens though." Jaden continued.

Suddenly Shinato pointed his finger and fired a bolt of gold lightning at Fallen Angel Yubel. At the same time, Reshef fired blasts of light from the balls of light binding his body together. Fallen Angel Yubel was struck by both attacks but was unharmed. Jaden's life points climbed to 6000. At the same time, Reshef turned grey and the balls of light that were part of his body vanished. Shinato turned grey as well and seemed to become lifeless.

"What sort of trick is this?" Electra demanded to know.

"As long as Fallen Angel Yubel is on the field, all my opponent's Ritual Monsters have to attack her if they can." Jaden revealed.

"In other words, Fallen Angel Yubel is an anti-Ritual Monster card." Tabitha realized from the sidelines. "That makes her the perfect card to defeat Electra and Zott!"

"Maybe, but did Jaden have to use Alexis to make that card?" Atticus asked.

"C'mon Rhodie, it's not like Jaden had much of a choice." Reggie pointed out. "Besides, I'm sure when this is all over Alexis will be back to her old self."

"You will pay for this a million times over, Supreme King!" Zott declared.

"We'll see about that!" Jaden told him.

* * *

Alexis got back to her feet and drew her next card. As soon as she did, the shadowy mass created by Curse of Loneliness appeared around her feet an enveloped her. Alexis fell back to her knees as a freezing cold filled her body. Her life points fell to 2400.

"Don't tell me you've reached your limit." Yubel told her.

"I'm not giving up yet!" Alexis declared as she got back to her feet. "I activate Card of Sanctity! This let's us draw until we both have six cards in our hand!"

"How thoughtful of you." Yubel remarked.

"I activate the Spell, Fulfillment of the Contract!" Alexis announced. "By paying 800 life points, I summon Cyber Angel-Benten back to the field!"

Alexis' life points dropped further to 1600. Soon after, Benten reappeared with a flash of golden light.

"You must really like that monster to give up so many life points to bring her back." Yubel remarked. "Not that she can be of much help to you, though."

"We'll see about that!" Alexis told her. "I equip Benten with the Spell, Ritual Weapon! This card raises Benten's ATK by 1500!"

Benten's normal fan weapon vanished from her hands. Appearing on the masked warrior's left arm to replace it was an ornate golden gauntlet with a crossbow-like weapon attached.

"I also equip Benten with the Spell, Rainbow Veil!" Alexis announced. "Now when Benten attacks a monster, she negates that monster's effects during the battle! Which means Terror Incarnate can't protect you!"

"It does look that way." Yubel confidently admitted.

"I'm ending this duel now!" Alexis declared. "Benten, attack Terror Incarnate! Angelic Arrow!"

"I activate a Trap, Negate Attack!" Yubel announced. "So much for you ending the duel."

Benten took aim and fired a blue arrow from the crossbow attached to her gauntlet. The arrow glowed with a rainbow-colored aura as it headed for Terror Incarnate. But before it could strike, the arrow was sucked into a vortex that appeared in front of the demon.

"That was the best you could do?" Yubel asked. "That was pathetic. Jaden can do a whole lot better than you."

"What the hell do you know, anyway?" Alexis responded.

"Why don't we just stop playing around already?" Yubel suggested. "Just tell me what you mean when you say that you and Jaden have become too different?"

"I'm talking about all this!" Alexis revealed. "About you, and what happened with Principle Mackenzie, and every other weird thing that happened after Jaden came back from dueling you back then! The fact is… Jaden's just too different now. He's part of a different world."

"Wait a minute. You're saying that all this is because Jaden's not a normal human?" Yubel realized.

"During our final year at the academy… I thought that maybe it could still work out." Alexis admitted. "Especially during the school tag tournament. But as time passed, somewhere down the road I realized that Jaden had changed. He became something else during that third year when we had to deal with you. He's part of another world that… that scares me a little. A world that I could probably never fit into even if I tried. So even though I still have feelings for Jaden, I don't think a relationship could work out."

"…And just when I thought you couldn't be any more pathetic." Yubel spoke after a moment.

"Huh?" a surprised Alexis responded.

"So what if Jaden isn't a normal human? That shouldn't matter if you truly love him." Yubel told her. "Even if a relationship between the two of you might be difficult, it can still work if you both tried. I know for a fact that Jaden wants to give it his all with you. But if you don't, then I was right about you all along."

"Do… do you really think it could work between us?" Alexis asked.

"How should I know?" Yubel answered. "Frankly, I'd rather have you out of the picture altogether. But the fact is Jaden is head over heels for you. So if you're truly worthy of him, if you really want to be with Jaden, then prove it to me right now."

After a moment, Alexis regained her determination. "I set one card on the field and end my turn!"

Yubel drew her next card. "At this point, the effect of Test of Devoted Love kicks in. But rather than pay 800 life points, I choose to let Terror Incarnate be destroyed."

A bolt of lightning came down and struck the demon, burning its body to a crisp. But rather than crumbling to ash, the demon suddenly grew in side and began to change. Its chest developed a large face that looked like a distorted version of Yubel's. From the top of its body grew an actual face with a masculine purple face and six yellow horns. The demon grew a second pair of wings on its back and two pairs of yellow spikes grew from its upper legs. It grew a long tail and both of its knees developed a large demonic eye, and growing from its hind end was a long dragon-like tail.

"Say hello to my final form." Yubel introduced. "Yubel-The Ultimate Nightmare!"

"It doesn't look so tough." Alexis responded.

"I activate the Spell, Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy Rainbow Veil!" Yubel announced. A twister briefly appeared around Benten before vanishing.

"Why didn't you use that card to destroy Fulfillment of the Contract?" Alexis asked. "Doing that would've sent Benten back to the Graveyard."

"Because to win this duel, I need to attack Benten with my final form." Yubel explained. "When The Ultimate Nightmare battles a monster, it destroys it and deals damage equal to that monster's ATK. So I attack Benten with The Ultimate Nightmare!"

"And I activate my Trap, Doble Passe!" Alexis announced. "This card turns The Ultimate Nightmare's attack into a direct attack on me! But since your final form has zero ATK, I don't take any damage!"

"What?" a surprised Yubel exclaimed.

The Ultimate Nightmare shined yellow lights from all its eyes. The lights passed through Benten and shined on Alexis, doing no damage at all.

"In exchange, Doble Passe let's Bente do a direct attack on my opponent!" Alexis continued. "Which means this duel's over!"

Benten leapt over The Ultimate Nightmare and fired an arrow down at Yubel. Yubel was struck in the chest and knocked into her back. Her life points dropped straight to zero. With the duel over, Benten and The Ultimate Nightmare vanished.

"You okay?" Alexis asked as she walked over to Yubel.

"Yeah. That was nothing." Yubel assured her as she sat up. "I'm starting to see why Jaden likes you. You're a pretty good duelist."

"You're not so bad yourself." Alexis admitted as she kneeled down next to the demon.

"Anyway, I guess I can learn to get along with you." Yubel told her.

"And I can learn to accept you too." Alexis replied. "One thing I'm sure of is that I'm still in love with Jaden. And I want more than anything to make our relationship work."

"I don't think you'll have any real problems with that." Yubel assured her. "You're already a part of Jaden's world." With that, the two of them took each other's hand.

* * *

"I end my turn." Electra announced in her duel with Jaden. "But mark my words, Supreme King! Lord Zott and I will still prevail!"

Jaden prepared to draw his next card. But just as he did, an image of Alexis helping Yubel to her feet flashed through his mind.

A smile came to Jaden's face. "Sorry Electra, but you and Zott have already lost!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** During my early days on this site, I once browsed through the GX fanfics that had Jaden and Yubel as the main characters. A lot of those stories depicted Jaden and Yubel as having a romantic relationship. While I can kind of see that, I've always thought that Jaden and Yubel's relationship was a little more complex than that. A few times while working on this story, I saw their relationship as being more sibling-like than anything else. At the same time when I checked out some of the Jaden and Alexis fanfics, I noticed that Yubel was largely absent.

Then one day I read a 5D's story that was kind of a crossover with GX. That story depicted Yubel as being pretty jealous of Jaden's relationship with Alexis. It was at that point when I realized that Yubel might add a little complexity to Jaden and Alexis' relationship. So this chapter was largely an attempt to try and resolve that little issue. Or at least begin to resolve it.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	18. Death of the Ritual God

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

* * *

Chapter 18: Death of the Ritual God

"What do you mean we've already lost?" a very skeptical Electra asked. "You may have weakened Lord Zott, but that shield monster of yours can't protect you forever. Once I find a way to destroy it, you and that barbarian hero of yours are doomed."

"You won't get the chance!" Jaden declared as he finally drew his card. "I activate Polymerization! By fusing Primal Neos with Fallen Angel Yubel to create the ultimate ancient hero!"

Neos and Yubel flew up into the fusion vortex that had appeared in the sky above. As soon as they went in there was an explosion of white light. The light faded, and Primal Neos dropped down onto the field in a new form. His long orange hair had turned blonde, and on his head was a black helmet with gold trim and a golden faceplate. On each side of the helmet was a curved golden horn. Neos' upper torso was covered in black armor similar to his helmet with a red heart-shaped gem on the chest plate. His shoulders had become covered with pieces of black and gold armor with long curved spikes. Neos had the same wings as Fallen Angel Yubel on his back, and in his right hand he carried a black sword similar to the Sword of the Supreme King.

"Say hello to Demon Slayer Neos!" Jaden announced. "The monster created by my bonds with Alexis and Yubel!"

"An impressive-looking monster." Zott admitted. "But with only 3500 ATK, he doesn't stand a chance of defeating me."

"That's where you're wrong!" Jaden told him. "When Demon Slayer Neos attacks a monster, that monster looses 1000 ATK during the battle. And he can also attack every Ritual Monster my opponent controls at least once! Which means you're toast!"

"What?" a shocked Electra exclaimed.

"Neos, attack all of Electra's monsters!" Jaden commanded. "Ultimate Justice Blade!"

With both hands, Neos raised his sword and swung it at Zott, Reshef, and Shinato. A massive blade of black energy shot forth from the sword and sliced apart all three monsters. Zott roared in pain before what was left of his body disintegrated. The blade continued on and struck Electra, reducing her life points to 1100.

Electra recovered from the attack and glared at Jaden. "Damn you!"

"It's over, Electra." Jaden told her.

"Far from it." Electra told him. "I activate the secondary effect of Revival of Zott! By banishing this card from the Graveyard, I add a Spell card to my hand!"

"Then I end my turn." Jaden announced.

Electra drew her next card. "It's time you face the full fury of Lord Zott! I activate the Spell card, Miracle Ritual Fusion! I banish Lord Zott's card and my own from the Graveyard to summon Zott, the Ultimate Demon God!"

Electra's skin turned blue and horns grew from the sides of her head. A cord-like tail with a point on the end quickly grew from her rear end. Suddenly a massive explosion of white light enveloped the demon priestess. The light faded to reveal that Zott had reappeared on the field. The demon was now on all fours and a massive pair of blue bat-like wings had appeared on his back. Also growing out of the top of Zott's back was the upper half of Electra's demon form.

"She… just merged herself with Zott!" a stunned Reggie observed.

"This is officially the weirdest duel I've ever seen." Sheila declared.

"Now that Lord Zott and I are one, there's no way you can stop us!" Electra declared.

"Is that supposed to impress me?" Jaden scoffed.

"You may have robbed me of the power I gained from the sacrifices, Supreme King. But not my fury." Zott retorted.

"While in this form, Lord Zott and I have 4500 ATK." Electra revealed. "But we also gain 1000 ATK for each Ritual Monster in our Graveyard. But that's not all. Once per turn, we can reduce the effect of one monster our opponent controls by 1000 points for each Ritual Monster in the Graveyard until the end of the turn."

"Which means your Demon Slayer shall parish!" Zott declared before firing a beam of red light from his eye. Neos was struck in the chest and began glowing with a red aura as he fell to one knee.

"Not good!" Atticus declared. "An attack from that thing will wipe out almost all of Jaden's life points!"

"Feel my wrath!" Zott roared before rearing his head back. "Light of Divine Shadow!"

"I activate one of Demon Slayer Neos' effects!" Jaden quickly announced. "By banishing Fallen Angel Yubel from my Graveyard, Neos can't be destroyed in battle this turn!"

Zott fired a massive beam of white light from his fanged mouth. Neos raised the blade of his sword to block the beam. After a few moments, the attack ended and Neos had survived. Jaden's life points had fallen to 1000.

"You're beginning to annoy me." Zott told Jaden.

"I'll end my turn here." Electra announced. "But on my next turn, you won't be able to save yourself!"

"You aren't going to get a next turn!" Jaden declared as he drew his next card. At the same time, Neos' red aura faded and he rose back to his feet. "I activate another one of Demon Slayer Neos' effects! By banishing Primal Neos from the Graveyard, Demon Slayer Neos gains 200 ATK for each card in my opponent's Graveyard until the end of the turn! Which means Neos' ATK becomes 6700!"

"What?" Electra exclaimed.

Neos' eyes flashed gold as he flexed his muscles. His body began to give off a massive blue aura.

"Any monster that Demon Slayer Neos attacks loses 1000 ATK during the battle." Tabitha recalled. "Which means if this attack gets through, Jaden will win."

"Neos! Attack Zott and end this duel!" Jaden commanded. "Ultimate Justice Blade!"

Neos swung his sword and sent a massive blade of black energy at Zott and Electra. The two merged demons cried out as the blade of energy cut them to shreds. Electra's life points fell to zero, and the destruction of Zott created a massive explosion of light that washed out the entire area. The light faded after a moment, and Jaden and the others saw that they were back at the academy. The sky above had become calm.

Jaden quickly noticed Alexis lying in the middle of the room and ran to her side. As he kneeled down, Alexis began to wake up.

"Lex, you okay?" a concerned Jaden asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alexis assured him. "Jaden, I…"

"Alexis!" Atticus interrupted as he and the other approached. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay." Alexis assured him as Jaden helped her up. "Can you guys give Jaden and me a few minutes?"

"Seriously? After what you've been through?" Atticus responded. "No way am I letting you out…"

"C'mon Rhodie. She's obviously fine." Reggie told him as she grabbed his arm and started to drag him off. "Let's just give them some space."

"But…" Atticus attempted to argue as the two of them went into the stairwell that led down from the roof.

"We'll chat with you guys later." Sheila told Jaden and Alexis before leaving with Tabitha.

"…So Lex, you wanted to talk to me about something?" Jaden asked after he was sure that everyone had gone.

"Jaden, I… I love you." Alexis told him. "I have been for a long time."

"I'm in love with you too, Alexis." Jaden admitted. "Sorry it took so long for me to figure it out."

"I always hoped that you would eventually." Alexis responded. "I'm sorry for how I've been acting towards you these last few days. The truth is I was afraid that things wouldn't work out between us."

"You mean you didn't want to risk ruining our friendship?" Jaden asked.

"That's part of it." Alexis answered. "But… I mostly thought that it might not work out between us because, well… because of what you are."

"You mean because I'm not an ordinary human." Jaden responded. "Yeah, I kind of know what you mean."

"You do?" Aleixs asked.

"That was one of the reasons why I was so distant from you and the others during our final year at the academy." Jaden revealed. "I just felt so out of place with everyone else. But hey, it can still work out with us Lex. Maybe our relationship will be a little a little odd, but what relationship isn't?"

"Yeah, I know that now." Alexis replied. "Yubel and I had a little talk while we were fused. Maybe we will have a few obstacles in our relationship, but I'm willing to try if you are."

Jaden gave Alexis a smile. "Game on."

With that, the two of them moved in closer to one another. They looked deeply into one another's eyes before their lips finally met in a kiss. It was a little awkward since Alexis was a bit taller than Jaden, yet at the same time it was perfect.

"Well, it looks like things are getting off to a good start between you two." Yubel remarked as she appeared, startling both Jaden and Alexis.

"Y-Yubel?" a flustered Alexis spoke.

"You can see her now?" an equally flustered Jaden asked.

"Oh c'mon, Jaden. Why wouldn't she be able to see me?" Yubel pointed out. "After today, the three of us have all become a lot closer."

"I think this relationship of ours is going to be a lot more interesting than we thought." Jaden told Alexis.

"No kidding." Alexis agreed.

* * *

Only half an hour after the defeat of Electra and Zott, all of the students who had been turned into Sacrifice Maiden cards had been found in an empty lot not far from the academy grounds. None of them remembered what had happened to them. At the same time, Mick, Trent and David had all come out of their comas with no memory of what they did as members of Electra's cult. Principle Mackenzie had returned as well, also with no memory of being Electra's high priestess. It seemed that life at Duel Academy America was slowly returning to normal.

Jaden and Alexis meanwhile had gone into the city to catch up and unwind. Later in the day, as the sun had begun to set, Jaden returned to the guesthouse with Alexis.

"I had a good time this after, Jaden." Alexis told him.

"Same here." Jaden replied. "Except for Electra and Zott, this was a pretty good day."

"So… I guess you'll be heading back out on the road again in a few days." Alexis assumed.

"Yeah." Jaden confirmed. "You know you could come with me if you wanted."

"Thanks, but I still have my own dreams to follow." Alexis reminded him. "But, we can still keep in touch, right?"

"Of course." Jaden assured her. "Heck, I'll make sure I come back here to visit."

"I'd love that." Alexis replied.

"But hey, my stay here isn't over just yet." Jaden reminded her. "Why don't we make plans to hang out tomorrow?"

"It's a date." Alexis agreed.

With that, Alexis leaned in and gave Jaden a light kiss on the lips. Afterwards, Jaden opened the door to the guesthouse. As soon as he did, his cat, Pharaoh ran out and went behind Jaden's legs. Before Jaden and Alexis could try to figure out what was going on, they heard the sounds of loud moaning coming from inside. The walls of the house were creaking as well.

"Is… is that my brother and Reggie?" Alexis realized as her eyes widened.

"Yeah, there at it again." Jaden confirmed with a heavy sigh. "It's not even 9:00 yet."

"Okay, you are not staying here tonight!" Alexis told him.

"Well then where…?" Jaden began to ask.

"Come on." Alexis replied as she took Jaden by the arm and led him away from the house. Pharaoh followed close behind the two of them.

Within a few minutes, Alexis had taken Jaden to the small apartment building set up for the teachers and staff on the grounds. It was not a huge building, as most of the staff members lived in the city, but it still had quite a few rooms. Alexis took Jaden to the apartment that belonged to her. Jaden was impressed by how large the space was, and by how clean Alexis had kept it.

"Wow! This is some place you've got, Lex." Jaden complimented.

"I'm sure you're pretty tired after today." Alexis assumed. "You can go use the bed if you want."

"Oh, I can just use the couch." Jaden told her.

"I insist." Alexis replied. "Besides, it looks like Pharaoh's already taken the couch for himself."

Jaden looked and saw that the somewhat overweight cat had already hopped up onto the end of the couch and had gone to sleep. "Well, I guess when you put it that way…. But where are you going to sleep?"

"Don't worry about it." Alexis told him. "I need to go to the office to catch up on paperwork anyway. You just make yourself at home."

"Well, okay then." Jaden agreed.

* * *

Jaden awoke on the bed in Alexis' room to the sound of running water. Sitting up a little, he saw a light coming from the door to the adjoining bathroom. After a moment, the sound of the water stopped and Alexis walked into the room wearing nothing but a blue bathrobe, switching the light off on the way out.

Alexis turned her head and quickly noticed that she was being watched. "Oh! Jaden. I… I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Uh, no. I… just kinda woke up on my own." Jaden replied. "I… I can leave the room, if you want."

"No, please stay." Alexis replied as she began to untie her robe. "I was hoping that you'd be awake."

Jaden's eyes went wide as Alexis' robe came off and feel to the ground. From the light of the moon streaming in through the window, Jaden could see every bit of Alexis. She was simply dazzling to look out. Jaden was frozen as Alexis came over and climbed onto the bed on her knees. Alexis quickly leaned in and captured Jaden's lips with her own. Their tongues quickly began to explore each other's mouths as Alexis ran her fingers through Jaden's brown hair.

After a few minutes they broke for air, and Alexis pulled off Jaden's black t-shirt. Their lips met again for a few moments before Alexis moved in to suck on Jaden's neck. It had become clear that she had become the one in charge. A few more moments passed, and Alexis pulled off the blanket still covering Jaden's lower half, revealing that he was down to his boxers. The blonde then pulled off Jaden's boxers, revealing his hardened manhood.

Alexis' eyes went wide upon seeing the hardened rod. "Oh… wow!"

"Is… is something wrong?" Jaden asked.

"No, no. I just didn't expect it to be… so big." Alexis explained.

"Oh…" Jaden responded as his face turned bright red. "So… are we still…?"

"Yeah, I… just need a few seconds to get ready." Alexis answered. "Um… here."

Alexis began to stroke Jaden's hardened erection, causing him to groan and throw his head back. After a few moments of sheer pleasure, Alexis stopped what she was doing and repositioned herself over Jaden. With a move of her hips, Jaden's hardened rod went inside her, causing her to wince. It was taking all of Jaden's restraint not to buck his hips into her. To help take her mind of the pain, Jaden reached up and began massaging large breasts, earning a few moans of pleasure from the blonde.

After a few moments, Alexis removed Jaden's hands from her hips and pinned them down onto the bed before she began to rock her hips faster. Jaden couldn't take it anymore. He began bucking his own hips, causing Alexis to throw her head back and moan louder. Neither of them was sure how much time had passed, but before long they could both feel that they were coming close to the edge. Then with one last hard thrust into each other, the two of them hit their climax.

Alexis collapsed and rolled herself off of Jaden. The two of them starred up at the ceiling as they caught their breath.

"That… that was something else!" Jaden declared.

"Yeah." Alexis agreed. "You know… it's not that late. When you're ready, we can do that again if you want."

"Well, I think I'm ready now." Jaden replied.

"Really?" Alexis responded as she sat up a little. Jaden nodded. "Well, okay."

With that, Alexis moved and got on all fours. Jaden took the signal and got onto his knees. Taking Alexis by the waist, he inserted his hardened manhood into her from behind. Alexis moaned as Jaden bucked his hips into her. As Jaden gradually picked up his pace, he suddenly grabbed Alexis' right arm and pulled it back. Their bodies quickly started to become covered in sweat. Before long, Jaden could feel Alexis' inner walls tightening around him. With one last hard thrust, they hit their second climax for the night. Jaden let go and fell back onto the bed, and Alexis collapsed onto her side.

"Okay… that… that was great." Alexis breathlessly declared.

"…Can we go one more time?" Jaden asked after a moment.

"Seriously?" a surprised Alexis asked.

"I'm game if you are." Jaden replied.

"Okay then. Let me have it." Alexis told him.

Jaden got back to his knees and flipped Alexis onto her back. Grabbing her hips and lifting them off the bed, Jaden inserted his rod and began plowing into her. Alexis threw her head back and grabbed onto the bed sheets. Jaden was mesmerized as he watched Alexis' breasts bouncing up and down with his movements. After a few more minutes, the two of them came to one last hard climax as Alexis cried out Jaden's name at the top of her lungs. When it was over, an exhausted Jaden collapsed back onto the bed.

"You… you aren't hoping for a fourth round, are you?" Alexis asked.

"Nah… I'm pretty much worn out." Jaden replied.

After a moment, Alexis repositioned herself next to Jaden and pulled the covers over them both. With their last ounce of strength, the two of them cuddled up close to each other.

"This moment right now… is perfect." Alexis quietly spoke. "I really do love you, Jaden."

"I love you too, Alexis." Jaden replied. With that, the two of them shared one last kiss before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Within a few days, the time had finally come for Jaden to leave and continue his travels as a pro duelist. Jaden waited on the helicopter-landing pad with Principle Mackenzie as Alexis arrive with Sheila, Tabitha, and Sophie to see him off. Atticus and Reggie had already left two days before to go to a tournament in Brazil.

"Thank you for all your help, Jaden." Principle Mackenzie told him. "I'm sorry your stay here was so troublesome."

"It wasn't all bad." Jaden assured him as he glanced over at Alexis.

"Still, it will take time for some of the damage that woman did to be healed." Principle Mackenzie replied with a sad expression. "In any case, I hope you'll come here to visit again."

"You bet!" Jaden replied.

"Well, I guess this is it." Alexis spoke as she walked up.

"Don't worry, Lex. I'll call you every chance I get." Jaden assured her.

"I will too." Alexis replied. "Be safe."

"You too." Jaden told her before planting a kiss on her cheek.

With that, the rotors of the helicopter began to turn. Jaden quickly got on and kept his eyes on Alexis through the window. The two of them waved at one another as the chopper lifted up into the air. Jaden continued to keep his eyes on Alexis until she became only a speck in the distance.

"You sure you're okay with leaving her like this?" Yubel asked as she appeared.

"Hey, it's not like it's the end for us." Jaden pointed out. "Alexis and I will meet again because it's what we both want. In the meantime, we both have our own dreams to follow. But one day, our paths will become the same."

"So until then, it looks like we're back on the road." Yubel observed.

"Yep." Jaden confirmed. "And right now, I wouldn't have it any other way."

THE END

* * *

**Afterward:** Well, that wraps it up for this little tale. I really had a lot of fun working on this story and reviving a concept that I had long since shelved. There are probably a few spots where it could've been better, but it was still a blast. I'd really like to thank everyone who read and or reviewed this story. I really do hope everyone enjoyed it.

Anyway, while this may be the end of Ritual of Doom, I'm not done with doing GX fanfics just yet. In fact I actually have a good idea what the next story is going to be about. I have a few other story ideas too, though they are still in the very rough stages and I may or may not do them. I actually have a poll running on my profile page here on the site to help me decide whether or not to do one of those ideas, so any votes for that poll would be appreciated (poll will be closed by August 11th, 2014). In the meantime though, I'm probably going to move onto other projects. Including probably these two stories that I've more or less abandoned. But the GX Journeys will continue, so stay tuned.

Please review and let me know what you think.


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